SHOCKER: CNN resorts to its usual #fakenews hackery on Florida gun laws

By William Teach

In some areas, such as Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, California, New Jerse and New York, there are are draconian gun restrictions. Heavily burdensome. Yet, interestingly, there are a lot of crimes that occur there that involve the use of guns. But, hey, CNN:

You don’t need a permit or license to buy a gun in Florida. (And you don’t have to register your gun either)

The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people, has put the focus on Florida’s gun laws. For instance, the state doesn’t require a permit or a license for someone to own a gun.

Here are some facts about the gun laws in the Sunshine State, from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action:

• The right to bear arms is found in the first article of Florida’s constitution: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and of the lawful authority of the state shall not be infringed…” (OMG, right to use firearms to protect oneself!!!!!)
• You don’t need a permit or license to buy a gun, nor do you have to register a firearm. (come back to this)
• You don’t need a permit to conceal carry a rifle or shotgun, although you do need it to conceal carry a handgun. (how do you conceal a rifle or shotgun? Open carry is not allowed, except for hunting)
• The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services must issue a concealed weapons license to an applicant as long as the person meets a certain set of requirements, including being a US citizen, being the age of 21 or older, not having a felony conviction and demonstrates competence with a firearm.
• You can buy as many guns as you want at one time, because Florida doesn’t regulate that either. (and you have to pass a background check)
• Gun sellers don’t have to get a state license to sell firearms. (They need a federal firearms permit, and must meet state requirements)
• The state does require a three-day waiting period before you can buy a gun.
• And Florida does not regulate assault weapons, .50-caliber rifles and large capacity ammunition magazines. (like most states. You can buy a .50 in most states, they’re just really expensive, and the ammo is really, really expensive. Has anyone used one for a crime spree?)

The permit/license thing is a canard. It doesn’t matter if you have one, as you’ve gone through a federal background check to be able to purchase the firearm. My handgun is not registered with the state of North Carolina nor with Wake County. Only one county in NC requires registration, being the heavily Democratic run Durham County (which has lots of “gun crime” in the main city of Durham). This is all fear-mongering and misrepresentation.

The Giffords Law Center, a gun-control advocacy group that tracks firearms legislation, gave Florida an “F” grade for its gun laws in 2016. The law center says Florida has 12 gun deaths per 100,000, the 25th-highest rate in the nation.

Florida also has the “stand your ground” law, which the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action describes as a person having no “duty to retreat” if they’re attacked in a place where they have a legal right to be.

ZOMG, you can actually protect yourself? How rude!

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