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The Gunshine State
By KEVIN BEGOS and JEROME R. STOCKFISCH The Tampa Tribune
Published: Oct 18, 2005
TALLAHASSEE -- A new chapter in the old debate over gun control is starting to unfold in Florida, and part of the story is tucked away in Shari Kotsch's purse.
Kotsch, a Pasco County resident who works from home, decided to apply for a concealed weapons license about six months ago.
"My husband and I both signed up for the class," she said, in part because she always felt like an "easy target" in a world that's "going crazy."
Now, Kotsch takes her pistol everywhere. Her mother and mother-in-law -- both widows -- now carry, too.
Kotsch and her relatives have plenty of company.
Florida has more concealed weapons license holders than Texas, and the Tampa Bay region alone has more than the entire state of California.
It suggests that gun control groups that accuse pro-gun politicians of being stooges for the National Rifle Association are missing a key point: The gun culture isn't just a few gun nuts who read Soldier of Fortune magazine.
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there are 354,552 concealed weapons licenses in the state. That means one out of every 49 Floridians has a permit to pack heat.
In California, just one of every 795 citizens has a concealed weapons license; in Texas, one in 95. At the Florida rate, 1,300 fans at a sold-out Bucs game could have more than some cold drinks tucked away in the car.
And keeping a firearm in a vehicle is the focus of proposed legislation that is once again turning national attention on the gun-friendly nature of the Florida Legislature. The bill would guarantee Floridians the right to keep their firearm in their car at work -- overriding some employers' prohibition of guns in their parking lots.
A showdown in the legislative session that begins in March will likely extend beyond the traditional left-right, pro- and antigun factions of the past. This time, business and property rights versus the Second Amendment right to bear arms is on the line. Both of those camps are Republican strongholds.
"We are a mobile society. People drive to and from work," said Marion Hammer, lobbyist for the NRA who helped craft the legislation. Business owners "have no more right to tell you what you can and can't have in your vehicle than they have a right to tell you what you can and can't have in your home."
Oklahoma Pink Slips
State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, said he began to consider the situation in Florida when he learned of what he considered a troubling case in Oklahoma.
A Weyerhaeuser paper plant there had a policy banning guns from company property, including the parking lot. Twelve employees were fired when they were found to have guns in their vehicles.
The Oklahoma Legislature responded by passing a law allowing workers to keep their weapons locked and stowed in their cars. Several major employers sued to block the state law, and the case is pending.
Energy company ConocoPhillips led the charge against the law, and in August the NRA called for a nationwide boycott on company products.
Baxley calls the parking-lot ban "back-door gun control."
House Bill 129 prohibits employers from enforcing policies banning secured and lawfully transported firearms in their parking lots. It makes a violation by any business a third-degree felony. The bill also immunizes businesses from civil action if those weapons are used in a crime.
Concern over workplace violence has sparked many employers -- including Walt Disney World Resort and its fellow theme-park operators in Central Florida -- to ban weapons.
Zach Ragbourn, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said Baxley's legislation "is a dangerous combination" with Florida's already permissive gun laws.
"That can't lead to safety," he said.
That logic doesn't impress state Rep. Faye Culp, a Tampa Republican who has signed on as a sponsor of the House bill.
"Workplace violence can happen at any point, and it doesn't necessarily mean the person is going to have a gun. The person could wield a knife," said Culp, who grew up on a farm and is handy with a rifle.
Baxley's bill and a Senate companion were filed about the same time the Brady Campaign was garnering international attention by warning tourists at Miami International Airport about Florida's gun-happy ways.
Sparking the campaign was the so-called stand-your-ground gun law, which took effect Oct. 1. That law removed a duty to retreat and allowed people to use deadly force when they are attacked in any place they have a right to be.
Whose Rights Prevail?
Passing the parking-lot bill could require the Republican-dominated Legislature to sidestep a long-standing defense of property rights. As of last week, major players were noncommittal on the bill.
Officials of both the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida said their organizations haven't taken positions on the issue. A Disney spokesman said it was premature to comment on the bill. Gov. Jeb Bush said he hasn't seen it.
Gun owners are conflicted, too.
Mark Little, a retired law enforcement officer and employee at Shooting Sports on Dale Mabry Highway, said a gun is not a danger if it is secured in a car at the workplace.
"If someone's intent is to do harm, they are not going to let some stupid law or regulation stop them," Little said.
Others expressed concern for business owners' property rights. "If the company I work for doesn't want me to bring a gun to work, then that's their policy," said Ed Hoevet, a member of the NRA and supervisor at Shooting Sports.
Little said lawmakers should focus on ensuring that people permitted to carry concealed weapons are more skilled, rather than trying to limit or specify where they could be with the firearms.
Pasco resident Kotsch said not being able to keep a licensed gun in a car at work "kind of defeats the purpose of having the concealed weapons permit."
Catering to their fastest-growing group of new customers, managers at Shooting Sports have ladies night on Monday evenings, with free range time and discounts on gun rental and ammunition.
Pasco County resident Laurel Nash, who got a carry permit about four years ago, said she doesn't go anywhere without her gun and her cell phone.
"I love having my gun with me," said Nash, a widow. "When I go to Tampa at night, I'm coming back late. It's a necessity. Here alone at night, it's a big comfort."
Nash hopes she will never have to use her gun but said that if she's in serious danger, "I sure as heck will."
Groundbreaking Law
The expansion of what has come to be known as the "Castle Doctrine" -- that a person's home is his castle and he may use deadly force to protect it -- prompted predictions of Wild West encounters on Florida streets.
It is not the first time attention has turned toward Florida over firearms.
In 1987, the state passed a groundbreaking right-to-carry law allowing Floridians to carry concealed firearms with a permit. According to the NRA, 40 of the 50 states either outlawed or restrictively regulated concealed firearms before Florida's action; today, 38 states have right-to-carry laws.
The Legislature has also released shooting ranges from responsibility for the cleanup of lead at their facilities. And it has prevented law enforcement agencies from compiling lists of gun owners.
All those measures were endorsed or instigated by the NRA.
Critics complain about the gun lobby's clout in Tallahassee. Culp, the Tampa representative, doesn't flinch.
"I don't have any problems with people talking about how closely we are in alignment with the NRA," she said. "We work with the NRA ... in making sure we have our rights to our guns."
Pinellas County gun instructor Bill Bunting said people in many parts of Florida society agree with such talk, including some who have come from Northern states with tough gun laws.
Scott Wheelock grew up in Massachusetts, and he recently took a handgun training class with Bunting.
"I like the idea of having the option," Wheelock said, citing concerns about recent violent crime in his neighborhood. Wheelock said his fiancé also likes having the option to carry a concealed weapon, but the couple are still deciding whether to buy handguns.
Women make up 14 percent of concealed weapons license holders in Florida, according to the most recent statistics. Almost 39 percent of license holders are older than 50.
Statistics aren't likely to lead the undecided to any firm conclusion on gun issues in Florida.
Gov. Bush and others have noted that Florida's overall crime rate is at a 30-year low. But slayings committed with firearms have crept up over the past five years, and the number of violent crimes committed with firearms has stayed relatively stable, with more than 25,000 incidents per year statewide.
Yet nationwide statistics show that California, with its tough gun-control laws, has a higher per-capita rate of violent firearm crime than either Texas or Florida, according to the Violence Policy Center in Washington.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Monday released its semiannual report on crime. Total crime declined 3.3 percent for the first six months of 2005, compared with 2004, but violent crime increased 0.6 percent -- the first rise since 2001. Slayings committed with firearms were down 15.1 percent, but forcible rapes involving a firearm increased 26.9 percent.
Baxley, the sponsor of the new legislation, said he is "challenging the whole idea that having a firearm is suspect in itself. To me, the firearm is not the problem."
The Gunshine State
By KEVIN BEGOS and JEROME R. STOCKFISCH The Tampa Tribune
Published: Oct 18, 2005
TALLAHASSEE -- A new chapter in the old debate over gun control is starting to unfold in Florida, and part of the story is tucked away in Shari Kotsch's purse.
Kotsch, a Pasco County resident who works from home, decided to apply for a concealed weapons license about six months ago.
"My husband and I both signed up for the class," she said, in part because she always felt like an "easy target" in a world that's "going crazy."
Now, Kotsch takes her pistol everywhere. Her mother and mother-in-law -- both widows -- now carry, too.
Kotsch and her relatives have plenty of company.
Florida has more concealed weapons license holders than Texas, and the Tampa Bay region alone has more than the entire state of California.
It suggests that gun control groups that accuse pro-gun politicians of being stooges for the National Rifle Association are missing a key point: The gun culture isn't just a few gun nuts who read Soldier of Fortune magazine.
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there are 354,552 concealed weapons licenses in the state. That means one out of every 49 Floridians has a permit to pack heat.
In California, just one of every 795 citizens has a concealed weapons license; in Texas, one in 95. At the Florida rate, 1,300 fans at a sold-out Bucs game could have more than some cold drinks tucked away in the car.
And keeping a firearm in a vehicle is the focus of proposed legislation that is once again turning national attention on the gun-friendly nature of the Florida Legislature. The bill would guarantee Floridians the right to keep their firearm in their car at work -- overriding some employers' prohibition of guns in their parking lots.
A showdown in the legislative session that begins in March will likely extend beyond the traditional left-right, pro- and antigun factions of the past. This time, business and property rights versus the Second Amendment right to bear arms is on the line. Both of those camps are Republican strongholds.
"We are a mobile society. People drive to and from work," said Marion Hammer, lobbyist for the NRA who helped craft the legislation. Business owners "have no more right to tell you what you can and can't have in your vehicle than they have a right to tell you what you can and can't have in your home."
Oklahoma Pink Slips
State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, said he began to consider the situation in Florida when he learned of what he considered a troubling case in Oklahoma.
A Weyerhaeuser paper plant there had a policy banning guns from company property, including the parking lot. Twelve employees were fired when they were found to have guns in their vehicles.
The Oklahoma Legislature responded by passing a law allowing workers to keep their weapons locked and stowed in their cars. Several major employers sued to block the state law, and the case is pending.
Energy company ConocoPhillips led the charge against the law, and in August the NRA called for a nationwide boycott on company products.
Baxley calls the parking-lot ban "back-door gun control."
House Bill 129 prohibits employers from enforcing policies banning secured and lawfully transported firearms in their parking lots. It makes a violation by any business a third-degree felony. The bill also immunizes businesses from civil action if those weapons are used in a crime.
Concern over workplace violence has sparked many employers -- including Walt Disney World Resort and its fellow theme-park operators in Central Florida -- to ban weapons.
Zach Ragbourn, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said Baxley's legislation "is a dangerous combination" with Florida's already permissive gun laws.
"That can't lead to safety," he said.
That logic doesn't impress state Rep. Faye Culp, a Tampa Republican who has signed on as a sponsor of the House bill.
"Workplace violence can happen at any point, and it doesn't necessarily mean the person is going to have a gun. The person could wield a knife," said Culp, who grew up on a farm and is handy with a rifle.
Baxley's bill and a Senate companion were filed about the same time the Brady Campaign was garnering international attention by warning tourists at Miami International Airport about Florida's gun-happy ways.
Sparking the campaign was the so-called stand-your-ground gun law, which took effect Oct. 1. That law removed a duty to retreat and allowed people to use deadly force when they are attacked in any place they have a right to be.
Whose Rights Prevail?
Passing the parking-lot bill could require the Republican-dominated Legislature to sidestep a long-standing defense of property rights. As of last week, major players were noncommittal on the bill.
Officials of both the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida said their organizations haven't taken positions on the issue. A Disney spokesman said it was premature to comment on the bill. Gov. Jeb Bush said he hasn't seen it.
Gun owners are conflicted, too.
Mark Little, a retired law enforcement officer and employee at Shooting Sports on Dale Mabry Highway, said a gun is not a danger if it is secured in a car at the workplace.
"If someone's intent is to do harm, they are not going to let some stupid law or regulation stop them," Little said.
Others expressed concern for business owners' property rights. "If the company I work for doesn't want me to bring a gun to work, then that's their policy," said Ed Hoevet, a member of the NRA and supervisor at Shooting Sports.
Little said lawmakers should focus on ensuring that people permitted to carry concealed weapons are more skilled, rather than trying to limit or specify where they could be with the firearms.
Pasco resident Kotsch said not being able to keep a licensed gun in a car at work "kind of defeats the purpose of having the concealed weapons permit."
Catering to their fastest-growing group of new customers, managers at Shooting Sports have ladies night on Monday evenings, with free range time and discounts on gun rental and ammunition.
Pasco County resident Laurel Nash, who got a carry permit about four years ago, said she doesn't go anywhere without her gun and her cell phone.
"I love having my gun with me," said Nash, a widow. "When I go to Tampa at night, I'm coming back late. It's a necessity. Here alone at night, it's a big comfort."
Nash hopes she will never have to use her gun but said that if she's in serious danger, "I sure as heck will."
Groundbreaking Law
The expansion of what has come to be known as the "Castle Doctrine" -- that a person's home is his castle and he may use deadly force to protect it -- prompted predictions of Wild West encounters on Florida streets.
It is not the first time attention has turned toward Florida over firearms.
In 1987, the state passed a groundbreaking right-to-carry law allowing Floridians to carry concealed firearms with a permit. According to the NRA, 40 of the 50 states either outlawed or restrictively regulated concealed firearms before Florida's action; today, 38 states have right-to-carry laws.
The Legislature has also released shooting ranges from responsibility for the cleanup of lead at their facilities. And it has prevented law enforcement agencies from compiling lists of gun owners.
All those measures were endorsed or instigated by the NRA.
Critics complain about the gun lobby's clout in Tallahassee. Culp, the Tampa representative, doesn't flinch.
"I don't have any problems with people talking about how closely we are in alignment with the NRA," she said. "We work with the NRA ... in making sure we have our rights to our guns."
Pinellas County gun instructor Bill Bunting said people in many parts of Florida society agree with such talk, including some who have come from Northern states with tough gun laws.
Scott Wheelock grew up in Massachusetts, and he recently took a handgun training class with Bunting.
"I like the idea of having the option," Wheelock said, citing concerns about recent violent crime in his neighborhood. Wheelock said his fiancé also likes having the option to carry a concealed weapon, but the couple are still deciding whether to buy handguns.
Women make up 14 percent of concealed weapons license holders in Florida, according to the most recent statistics. Almost 39 percent of license holders are older than 50.
Statistics aren't likely to lead the undecided to any firm conclusion on gun issues in Florida.
Gov. Bush and others have noted that Florida's overall crime rate is at a 30-year low. But slayings committed with firearms have crept up over the past five years, and the number of violent crimes committed with firearms has stayed relatively stable, with more than 25,000 incidents per year statewide.
Yet nationwide statistics show that California, with its tough gun-control laws, has a higher per-capita rate of violent firearm crime than either Texas or Florida, according to the Violence Policy Center in Washington.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Monday released its semiannual report on crime. Total crime declined 3.3 percent for the first six months of 2005, compared with 2004, but violent crime increased 0.6 percent -- the first rise since 2001. Slayings committed with firearms were down 15.1 percent, but forcible rapes involving a firearm increased 26.9 percent.
Baxley, the sponsor of the new legislation, said he is "challenging the whole idea that having a firearm is suspect in itself. To me, the firearm is not the problem."
