http://weartv.com/news/local/florida...-style-weapons
Three freshman lawmakers in Florida have introduced a bill to ban semi-automatic assault-style weapons in the state and expand the list of attachments which would be illegal.
The list would include detachable magazines or suppressors.
House Bill 167 also includes a long list of specific models that would be banned, including all AK and AR-model weapons.
The lawmakers concede the chance of passage is near zero, but
they felt it was a proper response to the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last year.
The lawmakers who introduced House Bill 167 said they have one goal in mind.
"These are small but important steps that, if passed, will move Florida to a place where our families can live, play and work, and yes, travel to an airport safely and without fear of being gunned down or someone bearing arms lurking around the corner," said Democratic State Senator Gary Farmer of Broward County.
Sharon Clinkbeard came with her husband to watch the old Crestview courthouse tear down. On her Toyota pickup's bumper, a pro-gun sticker.
"I'm for it, I don't think people should be buying assault guns," Clinkbeard said of the bill.
She said she believes in the right to have some types of semi-automatic guns, like pistols, which the bill would ban, but weighs the freedom to own an assault-style rifle like AR-15s and AK-47s against the safety of her 11 grandchildren.
"Because they walk to school, some of them do, and I want them to feel safe out there. I don't want people riding up and down the streets with assault rifles in their cars," Clinkbeard said.
At Jay's Guns in Crestview, military-style rifles with rails to add gun sights, lasers and other tactical and optical equipment line the walls.
"Well, I know it would make me a wealthy man quickly, because everybody would come in and try to buy them all," said the store's owner, Jay Woodbury, "The evidence of that is when President Obama was talking about a bunch of anti-gun legislation, gun sales spiked to the highest they have ever been."
He has seen threats to his business come and go.
"The guys who make the bans don't know what they are banning, so the verbiage they use. They just find work-arounds and just make guns a different way so people can still have what they want," Woodbury said.
The gun business is just as adaptable as the rifles they make.
State Senator Doug Broxson said he would vote against any and all sorts of measures to ban assault-style weapons, regardless of the situation.
Florida's state legislature convenes on March 7th.
Until the first day of the session, members of the house and the Senate will work in committee meetings.
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