Winchester 73
member
LEGISLATURE
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/474694.html
Gun lobby has property rights in its sights
Posted on Sat, Mar. 29, 2008
BY RICK McALLISTER
www.FRF.org
In Tallahassee, you sometimes hear outlandish statements, and we all have our favorite examples. This, year I haven't yet heard of anything as odd as the retail industry's gun sellers being labeled ''anti-gun.'' The paradox might be amusing if it weren't so troubling. The U.S. Supreme Court's deliberation on Washington D.C.'s gun ban now promises to add another layer of irony for our consideration.
As the president of the Florida Retail Federation, I have been one of the visible opponents to the Florida gun lobby's three-year push to erode property rights and management rights. For the past three years the gun lobby has been pushing a bill in Florida to prevent property owners and business managers from restricting guns in the workplace. Despite the absence of any evidence that such policies have caused a problem, the gun lobby's mission has been to persuade legislators that the business community is out to take guns away from law abiding citizens.
Cleverly, they have couched this argument as an assault on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, rather than an assault on property and management rights. Any legislator who opposes the gun lobby's bill will be labeled as an opponent of the Second Amendment.
Nice sleight of hand, but a fairly typical tactic in the legislative arena.
Part of the gun lobby's strategy is to label those of us who object to their legislation as ''anti-gun.'' They complain to legislators that ``big business is trying to take away our guns.''
What is strange is that all this is hurled my way despite the fact that my organization is the trade group that represents those who sell the majority of guns being purchased.
Of course, our primary interest in all of this is to provide a safe environment for our employees to work and our customers to shop, no matter what we are selling. Contrary to all that the gun lobby has accused us of, this argument is about our defense of the rights of private property as granted in the Constitution. It is also about our rights to manage our businesses -- rights that the AFL-CIO is also attacking in regular testimony during legislative hearings on the gun lobby's bill.
It might be a surprise to Florida's gun lobby to hear that I have very strong feelings about the pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on the interpretation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Court heard oral arguments recently on a case that promises to answer a longstanding question: Did the framers of the Bill of Rights intend to give the right to gun ownership to individuals, or just to militias?
The Court chose to hear this case involving the District of Columbia's ban of handguns within the District. The D.C. government took this Draconian step after years of being the murder capital of the world and having tried all other known methods of reducing gun-related violence. As far as the Supreme Court's deliberation on the D.C. gun ban, I trust that they will find in favor of individual rights of gun ownership. The Second Amendment was created to ensure that citizens could defend their property rights by arms if necessary. Terrific irony, don't you think?
Rick McAllister is president and CEO of the Florida Retail Federation, a trade association with more than 11,000 members representing the retail industry in Florida.
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/474694.html
Gun lobby has property rights in its sights
Posted on Sat, Mar. 29, 2008
BY RICK McALLISTER
www.FRF.org
In Tallahassee, you sometimes hear outlandish statements, and we all have our favorite examples. This, year I haven't yet heard of anything as odd as the retail industry's gun sellers being labeled ''anti-gun.'' The paradox might be amusing if it weren't so troubling. The U.S. Supreme Court's deliberation on Washington D.C.'s gun ban now promises to add another layer of irony for our consideration.
As the president of the Florida Retail Federation, I have been one of the visible opponents to the Florida gun lobby's three-year push to erode property rights and management rights. For the past three years the gun lobby has been pushing a bill in Florida to prevent property owners and business managers from restricting guns in the workplace. Despite the absence of any evidence that such policies have caused a problem, the gun lobby's mission has been to persuade legislators that the business community is out to take guns away from law abiding citizens.
Cleverly, they have couched this argument as an assault on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, rather than an assault on property and management rights. Any legislator who opposes the gun lobby's bill will be labeled as an opponent of the Second Amendment.
Nice sleight of hand, but a fairly typical tactic in the legislative arena.
Part of the gun lobby's strategy is to label those of us who object to their legislation as ''anti-gun.'' They complain to legislators that ``big business is trying to take away our guns.''
What is strange is that all this is hurled my way despite the fact that my organization is the trade group that represents those who sell the majority of guns being purchased.
Of course, our primary interest in all of this is to provide a safe environment for our employees to work and our customers to shop, no matter what we are selling. Contrary to all that the gun lobby has accused us of, this argument is about our defense of the rights of private property as granted in the Constitution. It is also about our rights to manage our businesses -- rights that the AFL-CIO is also attacking in regular testimony during legislative hearings on the gun lobby's bill.
It might be a surprise to Florida's gun lobby to hear that I have very strong feelings about the pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on the interpretation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Court heard oral arguments recently on a case that promises to answer a longstanding question: Did the framers of the Bill of Rights intend to give the right to gun ownership to individuals, or just to militias?
The Court chose to hear this case involving the District of Columbia's ban of handguns within the District. The D.C. government took this Draconian step after years of being the murder capital of the world and having tried all other known methods of reducing gun-related violence. As far as the Supreme Court's deliberation on the D.C. gun ban, I trust that they will find in favor of individual rights of gun ownership. The Second Amendment was created to ensure that citizens could defend their property rights by arms if necessary. Terrific irony, don't you think?
Rick McAllister is president and CEO of the Florida Retail Federation, a trade association with more than 11,000 members representing the retail industry in Florida.