The United States has suffered more than 48,000 firearm deaths in 2022. In the first month of this year alone, at least 69 people have been killed in shootings, including two parties in Florida that ended in gunfire.
None of this seems to shake state governor Ron DeSantis, who is pushing a controversial bill that allow you to carry a firearm in public no need for permission, no background check.
The Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Republican Paul Renner, announced on Monday that the legislature is “ready” to pass a bill in March that is supported by Republicans, and Opposed by Democratic congressmen and activists.
In Florida, Republicans control the state legislature and have enough votes on their side to pass the bill. Currently, Floridians do not need permits to purchase a gunbut yes to take them in public, so if passed, this law would eliminate this requirement.
“Last year alone, 48,000 people died in the United States as a result of gun violence. We are just weeks away from celebrating the anniversary of the Parkland massacre, in a state where we have experienced other massacres like the Pulse massacre in Orlando,” Samantha Barrios, a spokeswoman for Giffords, a prevention NGO, told Radio France International. ) of gun violence.
“So we know that Floridians will no longer be safe under this law, that one it will bring more shootings and easy access to guns for people who shouldn’t be armed, a law whereby anyone will be able to obtain a firearm without having a permit, a license and without having any kind of training,” he concluded.
Ron DeSantis, the governor who wants to be president
Considered in political circles a sort of “Donald Trump but more verbose”, Ron DeSantis is gaining ground in the Republican Party thanks to interventions on issues considered part of the “culture war” that he leads the most radicalized part of the party.
From issues of gender and religion to weapons, DeSantis does not shy away from the hottest issues that earn him points with Trump supporters, to the point that there are rumors that the governor is seriously considering running for the interior presidency in 2024 .
In 2022, DeSantis enacted the controversial law popularly known as “Don’t Say Gay” (“Don’t say gay”), which bans talking about sexuality and sexual identity in schools up to the third grade and criticism immediately erupted.
In an act for his re-election campaign in the 2021 election, he presented an election ad where He introduced himself as “a warrior sent by God” to Earth. While various images of the governor in uniform passed, with his wife and three young children, a voiceover with the litany of a pastor called to vote for him to fight the country’s ills.
Curiously, however, his bill to encourage the illegal carrying of weapons doesn’t get the kind of support he perhaps imagined it would get among his constituency.
Most Republicans, DeSantis voters, gun owners, and white voters “to oppose the carrying of firearms without a permit”, as evidenced in December by the Giffords NGO, founded by former Democratic Congresswoman from Arizona Gabby Giffords, which survived a 2011 gun attack in Tucson.
The study revealed that opponents of the bill include Republicans (65%) and voters like DeSantis himself (60%) in Miami-Dade, Florida’s most populous county.
If so many Florida voters oppose anyone carrying a loaded gun in public, why does the state governor persist in his efforts?
The arms industry
According to Samantha Barrios, a spokeswoman for Giffords, “the National Rifle Association was one of the great contributors to the creation of this law”.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is the advocacy group for the right to bear arms and one of the most powerful in the country.
“We know it there are arms industry interests behind this lawwhich is pretty unfortunate for a governor who knows this law is tremendously unpopular in Florida and is giving in to the interests of gun lobbyists,” Barrios added.
Florida requires 1,200 hours of training to obtain a barber license, 500 hours for a massage therapist license, and 240 hours for a manicurist license. If the carrying of weapons without a permit is permitted, zero hours of training will be required carrying a loaded weapon in public.
Source: RFI and AFP
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.