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Desantis is a POS and needs his own thread


Gil Bang

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Desantis doesn’t seem to be treating voting scofflaws equally:

All four residents of The Villages charged with voting twice in the 2020 election have now admitted to the crime, court records show.

John Rider, 62, recently entered into a pre-trial intervention program that will allow him to avoid potential prison time if he successfully completes court-ordered requirements and refrains from violating the law.

Rider acknowledged his guilt as part of the agreement with prosecutors.

“The Parties agree that the first step in rehabilitation is to the admission of his wrongdoing,” the contract states.

Rider indicated in court papers that he plans to “buy out” his requirement of completing 50 hours of community service at a cost of $10 per hour.

Three other residents of The Villages accused of voting twice signed similar pretrial intervention contracts last year.

All four were facing a maximum of five years in prison if a jury convicted them of a third-degree felony.

As part of their agreements with the state, Joan HalsteadCharles Barnes and Jay Ketcik were required to complete a 12-week adult civics class based on the textbook “We the People; the Citizen and the Constitution.

Meanwhile:

 

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Grain of salt, given its a lady from Reddit, but they're claiming that a broad swath of books are getting removed from their nieces elementary school (link)

 

61j6ipwlkpga1.jpg?auto=webp&v=enabled&s=

The reasoning in the post was:

 

Quote

The district is Okaloosa. House Bill 1467 went into effect last month statewide. This bill says all school reading materials must be certified by a media specialist approved by the state, but there are no real guidelines on vetting procedures other than “All materials must be free of pornography, gender identity issues (for students in Kindergarten through third grade), as well as any books relating to discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin.” (I got that [here](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/florida-book-bans-ron-desantis-b2273922.html) because it was concise). There’s also another law that’s been on the books for years that makes giving porn to children a felony (as there should be). But the fear is that the state can say “The Boxcar Children” is pornographic because it uses the word “queer”, and then the teachers can be charged with a felony. 

It'll be morbidly interesting to see how much is confirmed as there's more measures taken against knowledge and journalism to cover it

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On 2/5/2023 at 7:08 PM, Fudge Nuggets said:

There were Playboy magazines in my high school library.  I know because my friends and I put them there.

Were you and your friends the porn fairy?  Did you all stash porn in the woods, in the drop ceilings of bathrooms, in boxes inside of boxes, inside of suitcases, covered by old clothes and bowling shoes in the back of my parents’ closet?

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15 minutes ago, Underdog said:

The China balloon that went over Floriduh during the trump years most likely reported back that America is fucked.  

Maybe they were scouting access to Mar-a-Lago. It looked like they had an agent on the ground, too. Four cell phones, two passports, a laptop, a thumb drive containing malware, a nearby hotel room with five more SIM cards, more thumb drives, a signal detector device, and $8,000 in cash. She played dumb, got six months for trespassing and for lying to investigators, and was sent back home. Both incidents occurred in 2019. Hers was in April. I don’t know when the balloon passed overhead.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/20/mar-a-lago-chinese-woman-226671/

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Disney having low taxes is woke and anti- conservative?  Need to spread that word. 
 

also, the hardy boys series, which I still read to my teens as bedtime schlok despite assigning them to read Frankenstein and then count of monte cristo for their school work, uses queer for strange and gay for happy many times in the series. 

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On 2/3/2023 at 1:07 PM, Satchel said:

We may be a semi literate electorate who knows more about pop culture than politics, but I don’t believe the majority will co-sign book bans, the unlawful jailing of certain kinds of voters, liberalizing capital punishment laws, restrictions on free speech and a host of other civil rights restrictions. But then, maybe so.

 

they'll be fine with it, until its their daugther being charged with a felony for having an abortion, or not being allowed to participate is sports becuase she isn't menstruating on time, or they can't vote early and will be out of town on election day, then they'll care (well some will anyway), but by then we will be living in Gilead and it'll be too late.

 

 

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On 2/6/2023 at 2:18 PM, The Dog said:

 

Cross posted on another thread but what this tweet seems to bury or downplay, is that the "different board" is one made up entirely of appointments by Ronnie D.

What type of people do you think those 5 board seats will be filled with?

How is that a HUGE win (emphasis his)? 

Especially considering less than a year ago, Disney had all this plus 5 board members they got to choose.

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1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

Holy shit, after all this time I finally realized who soft-spoken, but wants-to-be-cool DeSantis reminds me of in both stature and speech:

The Rabbi from Seinfeld (sans glasses of course):

 

YGIFS, the moderate Republican is a myth, much like the Yeti, or his North American cousin, the Sasquatch. 

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On 2/6/2023 at 8:54 AM, Macanudo said:

The thing that is weird about DeSantis and Florida is the amount of control the governor has local government.  That's worrisome and seems contrary to what Republicans always seem to preach.

Reminder: there are no more “Republicans”, and no more conservatives. Just Magats who adhere to no law save seeking power to do the stupid, traitorous stuff they crave. 

 

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9 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

why's he so angry ?

 

Ah, government takeover for private enterprise. Err... wait.

"There's a new sheriff in town!"

The new sheriff:

DeSantis' Ian response should be our focus, not his boots

 

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Disney needs to put out an ad featuring Matt gates and Ron desantis handing out drinks to underaged girls and their focus on teen girls menstruation.

Maybe have a political party discount, for registered democrats and create an effigy of Ron Desntis where people get to punch him for a bigger discount.


Otherwise what happens is that Disney loses control of the region, they move money away from the parks and roads and then tourism to the area declines. The other theme parks might think this will level the playing field and help them, but what will really happen is that problems for Disney will create problems for them. Disney is the reason the region has tourism.

Just my uninformed opinions.

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I never realized that officer behind him's tac vest says "Pole Police"?  Is that a joke of some kind, like he's on strip club vice duty or something?  

He really is acting out like he's running for higher office in 2024.  The primary will be horrendous on he and his family (not that he cares about that part).  And it could cripple him from another run down the road.  But then, his name has never had more free press and cache.  He would only be 46 in November of 2024.  Meaning he could hang back and have multiple cycles in which to run for POTUS.  By Florida law, he would be ineligible to run for Governor in 2026, but is allowed to run again in 2030 (when he would still just be 52).  DeSantis would lose a lot of luster if he wasn't Governor of a major state in 2028, though he could spend that two years working on getting taller and more interesting.  I don't think the Senate is in the cards for him since Rick Scott is up for re-election in 2024 and will win, keeping him in office until 2030 at least.  And he won't primary Rubio in 2028.  Now that I am rambling, I think DeSantis pulls his toe back out of the water when it becomes clear Trump is going to dominate the primaries again.  He serves through 2026.  Spends 2027 doing philanthropy, quietly raising money, and getting coached up.  And he announces early in a cleared field and moves to Iowa.  

People seem to forget all the time, on both sides, that lots of Presidential nominees (both winners and losers) have frequently run before in the primaries.  The "loser" label doesn't really apply in primaries if you bow out correctly.  Biden lost primaries.  Mitt Romney lost in 2008.  McCain lost in 2000.  Dole lost as a VP candidate and in challenged Bush 41 in 1988.  Bush 41 lost in 1980.  Reagan was really close but lost in 1976 and 1968.  HRC lost in 2008, returned to get the nomination in 2016.  Al Gore lost in 1988.  Mondale had lost as VP Candidate in 1980.  Humphrey in 1972 actually own more votes than McGovern but lost key delegate races in more states, coming off a 1968 defeat.  And don't forget both LBJ and Humphrey went the distance with JFK and both lost out to him in 1960.  Adlai Stevenson got the nomination in 1956, coming off a primary loss in 1952.  

Losing in a primary is really not the 'death sentence' the media and armchair politicos make it out to be.  Except in this case, Trump will eviscerate DeSantis (and hopefully vice-versa).  It's going to be beautiful.  Unless he reads the tea leaves and let's Trump self-implode again, erode the party, and DeSantis comes in in 2026/28 to clean up the mess and circle all the wagons with a cohesive power that would make Reagan blush. 

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15 minutes ago, Nivek said:

Disney needs to put out an ad featuring Matt gates and Ron desantis handing out drinks to underaged girls and their focus on teen girls menstruation.

Maybe have a political party discount, for registered democrats and create an effigy of Ron Desntis where people get to punch him for a bigger discount.


Otherwise what happens is that Disney loses control of the region, they move money away from the parks and roads and then tourism to the area declines. The other theme parks might think this will level the playing field and help them, but what will really happen is that problems for Disney will create problems for them. Disney is the reason the region has tourism.

Just my uninformed opinions.

DeSantis is a moron because he doesn't really understand why the district that was set up for Disney and why it exists to this day. He just saw something he could use to hurt Disney and give red meat to all the MAGAs who want to hurt "woke companies". He doesn't care if it hurts Orlando or the surrounding area because that area didn't vote for him. He'll fill the board with morons who have no idea what they're doing. Disney will challenge that in court as they are being taxed but not allowed representation in their own district. Disney employees are specifically barred from serving on the board. The board that does all the things necessary to keep the area running smoothly and not placing any burden on the surrounding local governments. Mundane shit like roads, police, fire, utilities, waste management. The good thing is Disney has been doing it for so long that most of these morons will probably just rubber stamp things unless the head moron gets angry at a woke Disney movie. Disney really doesn't have to say or do anything. Under Iger, they will be a lot more guarded in what they say. But you can bet your ass they're taking Kinky Boots to court over this. The irony in all this is I thought Republicans were for free market and limited government overreach. But it's cool to have a sitting governor calling shots over the operations of a theme park?

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9 minutes ago, mdmost said:

DeSantis is a moron because he doesn't really understand why the district that was set up for Disney and why it exists to this day. He just saw something he could use to hurt Disney and give red meat to all the MAGAs who want to hurt "woke companies". He doesn't care if it hurts Orlando or the surrounding area because that area didn't vote for him. He'll fill the board with morons who have no idea what they're doing. Disney will challenge that in court as they are being taxed but not allowed representation in their own district. Disney employees are specifically barred from serving on the board. The board that does all the things necessary to keep the area running smoothly and not placing any burden on the surrounding local governments. Mundane shit like roads, police, fire, utilities, waste management. The good thing is Disney has been doing it for so long that most of these morons will probably just rubber stamp things unless the head moron gets angry at a woke Disney movie. Disney really doesn't have to say or do anything. Under Iger, they will be a lot more guarded in what they say. But you can bet your ass they're taking Kinky Boots to court over this. The irony in all this is I thought Republicans were for free market and limited government overreach. But it's cool to have a sitting governor calling shots over the operations of a theme park?

It's because it's a political/culture war, and DeSantis knows a lot of Florida will eat it up. In that sense he is not a moron, but a good politician. 

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3 hours ago, YGIFS said:

 

He really is acting out like he's running for higher office in 2024.  The primary will be horrendous on he and his family (not that he cares about that part).  And it could cripple him from another run down the road.  

What are things Greg Abbott does not worry about?

 

Alex Trebek Yes GIF by Jeopardy!

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4 hours ago, mdmost said:

DeSantis is a moron because he doesn't really understand why the district that was set up for Disney and why it exists to this day. He just saw something he could use to hurt Disney and give red meat to all the MAGAs who want to hurt "woke companies". He doesn't care if it hurts Orlando or the surrounding area because that area didn't vote for him. He'll fill the board with morons who have no idea what they're doing. Disney will challenge that in court as they are being taxed but not allowed representation in their own district. Disney employees are specifically barred from serving on the board. The board that does all the things necessary to keep the area running smoothly and not placing any burden on the surrounding local governments. Mundane shit like roads, police, fire, utilities, waste management. The good thing is Disney has been doing it for so long that most of these morons will probably just rubber stamp things unless the head moron gets angry at a woke Disney movie. Disney really doesn't have to say or do anything. Under Iger, they will be a lot more guarded in what they say. But you can bet your ass they're taking Kinky Boots to court over this. The irony in all this is I thought Republicans were for free market and limited government overreach. But it's cool to have a sitting governor calling shots over the operations of a theme park?

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/10/desantis-campaign-emails-gun-free-event/

 

Quote

As Gov. Ron DeSantis prepared for an election night party in downtown Tampa last year, city officials received a surprising — and politically sensitive — request.

The Republican governor’s campaign wanted weapons banned from his victory celebration at the city-run Tampa Convention Center, a city official said in emails obtained by The Washington Post. And the campaign suggested that the city take responsibility for the firearms ban, the official said — not the governor, who has been a vocal supporter of gun rights.

 

Quote

“DeSantis/his campaign will not tell their attendees they are not permitted to carry because of the political optics,” Chase Finch, the convention center’s safety and security manager, said in an Oct. 28 email to other city officials about the request, which was conveyed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), a state police agency led by a DeSantis appointee.

Finch further explained that because of “Republicans largely being in support of 2A,” referring to the Second Amendment, “Basically it sounds like they want us to say it’s our policy to disallow firearms within the event space if anyone asks.”

 

Quote

In a statement sent after this story published, FDLE said the agency determines on its own whether to prohibit weapons at events. “FDLE did not request the venue restrict weapons at the direction of the Governor or campaign. Security decisions are made by FDLE,” agency spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said.

 

 

Spoiler

Tampa Convention Center officials ultimately rejected the request to ban weapons. State law allows concealed firearms to be brought inside the public facility unless the renter insists on a gun-free event. On election night, the campaign did require guests to pass through metal detectors, Finch said.

The previously unreported request to Tampa officials illuminates a touchy issue for DeSantis as he weighs a potential bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Even as DeSantis has earned the highest rating from the National Rifle Association’s political arm, gun owners are balking at his recent appearances at events where firearms were prohibited, according to interviews and online posts.

Tim Marden, now the chairman of Florida’s Alachua County GOP, said he skipped a fundraiser featuring DeSantis in October after he was told the governor’s team insisted on metal detectors. A gun rights protester was arrested outside the event.

“In my thinking, it was a little hypocritical to have this measure in place for law-abiding citizens at a time when a lot of folks in the gun community will condemn a Democratic politician for having a security force,” Marden said.

In response to questions from The Post about gun bans at DeSantis events, the governor’s deputy press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, said in an email, “We do not comment on speculation and hearsay. The Governor is strongly in support of individuals’ constitutional right to bear arms.”

Lindsey Curnutte, a spokeswoman for the governor’s political team, said: “We follow the guidance of the FDLE and local law enforcement to keep the governor and his family safe during events.”

FDLE, which reports to the governor and three other statewide elected officials, values “the rights of our citizens to legally bear arms,” Plessinger said, and makes decisions based on “security threats.” She added in an email: “FDLE encourages private and public venues to limit weapons when hosting the Governor and First Family at large events. Doing so enhances the ability of law enforcement officers and FDLE Protective Operations agents to work proficiently and quickly in the event of an emergency.”

Plessinger noted that “security decisions are made solely by FDLE without consultation or input from any other agency or entity.”

DeSantis’s stance on gun rights is expected to draw attention in the coming weeks as the legislature debates a closely watched bill to legalize carrying concealed weapons without permits. The measure cleared its first committee this week but drew blowback from gun activists, who argue it does not go far enough. Redfern said the governor “has repeatedly stated publicly that he hopes to sign Constitutional Carry legislation this year.”

As DeSantis considers a 2024 presidential bid, potential GOP opponentswho have put gun rights at the center of their agendas, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, could seek to capitalize on the issue, said Luis Valdes, Florida state director of Gun Owners of America. Former president Donald Trump, who is running for another term, was credited by the NRA’s political arm in 2020 with doing “more than any president to protect the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.”

“DeSantis continually pays lip service to the Second Amendment as he positions himself for a nationwide run, and yet what I am seeing as a constituent of his and as a Floridian is that his events are gun-free zones,” Valdes said. “His primary rivals will clean his clock on guns.”

The DeSantis campaign’s sensitivity to the issue was described in the correspondence between FDLE and Tampa officials in the days before the Nov. 8 election. The city officials who received the campaign’s request quickly agreed that they had no flexibility on the issue; Florida law gives the legislature the power to regulate firearms and generally prohibits local governments from doing so. Under a 1987 law, the state has granted more than 2.6 million licenses to carry concealed weapons in many public places.

ZRDJTNNPWRE43MAETWK6XO2GHA.png&w=1200

“I’m certainly not signing this without any sort of guidance,” Finch wrote to city officials.

Less than half an hour later, he received an emailed response from Nicole Travis, the city’s administrator of development and economic opportunity: “We are not saying anything about concealed carry. That is the responsibility of the renter. We follow State Statute that permits concealed carry.”

VNNLMS3Z4VC3TPBCWSBZIEGTO4.png&w=1200

 

In Finch’s response to FDLE officials, he said banning concealed weapons at the Tampa Convention Center could put the city in a “legal quagmire.” He added: “I understand the campaign does not wish to ‘restrict’ 2A for their event because of the optics, but if any guests asks, we will not say it’s TCC’s policy to disallow legal carry.”

Diana Hunter, FDLE special agent supervisor, did not object to Finch’s assertion about the campaign’s position and thanked him for explaining the city’s policy in her response.

Days before the FDLE made its request of the Tampa Convention Center, gun advocates raised concerns about a weapons ban at theAlachua County Republican Party’s annual fundraiser, where DeSantis was scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

In the days leading up to the Oct. 20 event at a public building owned by the city of Alachua, a town near Gainesville, Fla., gun rights advocates warned in online posts that ticket holders would have to pass through metal detectors.

Jared Yanis, host of the Guns & Gadgets YouTube channel, which has over 600,000 subscribers, posted a 13-minute video about the no-guns policy at the event, saying: “Ron DeSantis is saying Florida is a Second Amendment state — except if you want to hear me talk, you have to give up your Second Amendment.” Lee Williams of the Second Amendment Foundation, a national group based in Washington state, wrote that he was told by Alachua GOP Treasurer Ann Stone that the governor would not attend unless guns were banned.

Stone could not be reached for comment. The governor’s representatives did not respond to questions about the Alachua event.

After receiving an email alert about the no-weapons policy from a gun rights group called Florida Carry, Chris Rose decided to protest outside the Alachua fundraiser. Carrying a neon yellow “I WILL NOT BE DISARMED BY DESANTIS” sign, he said he stood on the sidewalk about 30 yards from the entrance to the fundraiser. He was asked to leave by a private security guard for the event, according to his arrest report. When he refused, the security guard asked the police to “remove” him, the report says.

Rose was arrested for trespassing, but the charge was dropped last month, records show. “I can’t consider DeSantis a defender of the fundamental human right to self-defense,” he said. “It’s just talk.”

Valdes of Gun Owners of America, who also warned supporters about the no-weapons policy before the event, said he was shocked to see Rose get arrested as he handed out literature opposing gun-free zones. “It’s a very delicate balancing act because there are credible threats against public officials, but we also have to respect the public’s civil rights” to carry guns, he said.

Valdes had attended a DeSantis campaign event one month earlier, in September, where guns also were prohibited. “All attendees must undergo security screening prior to entering the event,” read a notice from the governor’s campaign about the event in Dover, Fla., where DeSantis received an endorsement from the Florida Farm Bureau Federation’s political action committee.

Representatives of the farm bureau and the site that hosted the event said they were not in charge of security.

“I wasn’t happy about it, but I secured my firearm in my vehicle,” Valdes said. “It was a public event in a field and in no way would a bad guy with ill intentions have been stopped.”

Concealed weapons were also forbidden at Unite & Win rallies in August where DeSantis stumped alongside Republican candidates in Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania, Business Insider reported. The events were organized by Turning Point Action, a conservative advocacy group. Turning Point Action spokesman Andrew Kolvet said it is not the organization’s policy to ban firearms at its events, though some venues prohibit weapons. “Just like we’ve done in the past with the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies, we coordinated with Florida Department of Law Enforcement and followed FDLE’s direction,” he said.

Valdes and other gun rights advocates say they are reluctant to criticize DeSantis because of his pro-gun rights record as governor and a former U.S. House member.

When DeSantis was serving in Congress in 2018, Florida’s GOP-controlled government passed a gun-control law following the massacre of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla. The legislation raised the minimum age for buying firearms from 18 to 21. As a candidate for governor that spring, DeSantis said he was “disappointed that the Florida Legislature is rushing to restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens.” He added, “Better to focus on denying firearms to dangerous individuals, which avoids infringing on constitutional rights and is also more likely to be effective.”

In 2021, DeSantis signed a bill that allows concealed weapon permit holders to carry their guns into churches or other religious institutions even if they share property with schools.

After 10 people were gunned down at a Buffalo grocery store in May, DeSantis said of mass shooters, “They are not dumb, because they pick their targets and they know — and the Buffalo guy said he wanted to go where he knew there wouldn’t be blowback from people being armed, and so he tried to find a gun-free zone.” The governor added, “What you do is, you focus on the criminal. You focus on the lunatic. You don’t kneecap the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

The next month, DeSantis praised a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a New York law requiring people who want to carry handguns to show they have a special need to defend themselves. “What you don’t want is to have a government bureaucrat stymie your ability to exercise your constitutional rights,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis also has pledged to sign a permitless concealed carry law, though he has not directly endorsed a bill in the Florida legislature that drew criticism at its first committee hearing this week, with gun-control advocates saying it will lead to violence and pro-gun activists arguing that it should allow them to openly carry weapons. Representatives of the governor did not respond to questions from The Post about whether he would support an “open carry” provision in the bill.

“Constitutional carry — I’ve been in favor of the whole time,” DeSantis said in August. “And so we think we will be able to do that, but that really requires the legislature to get it to my desk. I’m not the issue. I will sign it. That will be an easy thing to do.”

 

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The Republican governor’s campaign wanted weapons banned from his victory celebration at the city-run Tampa Convention Center, a city official said in emails obtained by The Washington Post. And the campaign suggested that the city take responsibility for the firearms ban, the official said — not the governor, who has been a vocal supporter of gun rights...

 

“DeSantis/his campaign will not tell their attendees they are not permitted to carry because of the political optics,” 

 

 

Governor Pussy in Boots 

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On 2/9/2023 at 11:06 AM, Poe It Up said:

Disney really hasn’t changed much since captain Ron got involved, let’s be honest. I put on Willow for nostalgia’s sake and there were two women kissing faster than most of my pornhub favorites. 

To be fair, there's probably no women in your phub favorites

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18 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/10/desantis-campaign-emails-gun-free-event/

 

 

 

 

 

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Tampa Convention Center officials ultimately rejected the request to ban weapons. State law allows concealed firearms to be brought inside the public facility unless the renter insists on a gun-free event. On election night, the campaign did require guests to pass through metal detectors, Finch said.

The previously unreported request to Tampa officials illuminates a touchy issue for DeSantis as he weighs a potential bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Even as DeSantis has earned the highest rating from the National Rifle Association’s political arm, gun owners are balking at his recent appearances at events where firearms were prohibited, according to interviews and online posts.

Tim Marden, now the chairman of Florida’s Alachua County GOP, said he skipped a fundraiser featuring DeSantis in October after he was told the governor’s team insisted on metal detectors. A gun rights protester was arrested outside the event.

“In my thinking, it was a little hypocritical to have this measure in place for law-abiding citizens at a time when a lot of folks in the gun community will condemn a Democratic politician for having a security force,” Marden said.

In response to questions from The Post about gun bans at DeSantis events, the governor’s deputy press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, said in an email, “We do not comment on speculation and hearsay. The Governor is strongly in support of individuals’ constitutional right to bear arms.”

Lindsey Curnutte, a spokeswoman for the governor’s political team, said: “We follow the guidance of the FDLE and local law enforcement to keep the governor and his family safe during events.”

FDLE, which reports to the governor and three other statewide elected officials, values “the rights of our citizens to legally bear arms,” Plessinger said, and makes decisions based on “security threats.” She added in an email: “FDLE encourages private and public venues to limit weapons when hosting the Governor and First Family at large events. Doing so enhances the ability of law enforcement officers and FDLE Protective Operations agents to work proficiently and quickly in the event of an emergency.”

Plessinger noted that “security decisions are made solely by FDLE without consultation or input from any other agency or entity.”

DeSantis’s stance on gun rights is expected to draw attention in the coming weeks as the legislature debates a closely watched bill to legalize carrying concealed weapons without permits. The measure cleared its first committee this week but drew blowback from gun activists, who argue it does not go far enough. Redfern said the governor “has repeatedly stated publicly that he hopes to sign Constitutional Carry legislation this year.”

As DeSantis considers a 2024 presidential bid, potential GOP opponentswho have put gun rights at the center of their agendas, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, could seek to capitalize on the issue, said Luis Valdes, Florida state director of Gun Owners of America. Former president Donald Trump, who is running for another term, was credited by the NRA’s political arm in 2020 with doing “more than any president to protect the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.”

“DeSantis continually pays lip service to the Second Amendment as he positions himself for a nationwide run, and yet what I am seeing as a constituent of his and as a Floridian is that his events are gun-free zones,” Valdes said. “His primary rivals will clean his clock on guns.”

The DeSantis campaign’s sensitivity to the issue was described in the correspondence between FDLE and Tampa officials in the days before the Nov. 8 election. The city officials who received the campaign’s request quickly agreed that they had no flexibility on the issue; Florida law gives the legislature the power to regulate firearms and generally prohibits local governments from doing so. Under a 1987 law, the state has granted more than 2.6 million licenses to carry concealed weapons in many public places.

ZRDJTNNPWRE43MAETWK6XO2GHA.png&w=1200

“I’m certainly not signing this without any sort of guidance,” Finch wrote to city officials.

Less than half an hour later, he received an emailed response from Nicole Travis, the city’s administrator of development and economic opportunity: “We are not saying anything about concealed carry. That is the responsibility of the renter. We follow State Statute that permits concealed carry.”

VNNLMS3Z4VC3TPBCWSBZIEGTO4.png&w=1200

 

In Finch’s response to FDLE officials, he said banning concealed weapons at the Tampa Convention Center could put the city in a “legal quagmire.” He added: “I understand the campaign does not wish to ‘restrict’ 2A for their event because of the optics, but if any guests asks, we will not say it’s TCC’s policy to disallow legal carry.”

Diana Hunter, FDLE special agent supervisor, did not object to Finch’s assertion about the campaign’s position and thanked him for explaining the city’s policy in her response.

Days before the FDLE made its request of the Tampa Convention Center, gun advocates raised concerns about a weapons ban at theAlachua County Republican Party’s annual fundraiser, where DeSantis was scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

In the days leading up to the Oct. 20 event at a public building owned by the city of Alachua, a town near Gainesville, Fla., gun rights advocates warned in online posts that ticket holders would have to pass through metal detectors.

Jared Yanis, host of the Guns & Gadgets YouTube channel, which has over 600,000 subscribers, posted a 13-minute video about the no-guns policy at the event, saying: “Ron DeSantis is saying Florida is a Second Amendment state — except if you want to hear me talk, you have to give up your Second Amendment.” Lee Williams of the Second Amendment Foundation, a national group based in Washington state, wrote that he was told by Alachua GOP Treasurer Ann Stone that the governor would not attend unless guns were banned.

Stone could not be reached for comment. The governor’s representatives did not respond to questions about the Alachua event.

After receiving an email alert about the no-weapons policy from a gun rights group called Florida Carry, Chris Rose decided to protest outside the Alachua fundraiser. Carrying a neon yellow “I WILL NOT BE DISARMED BY DESANTIS” sign, he said he stood on the sidewalk about 30 yards from the entrance to the fundraiser. He was asked to leave by a private security guard for the event, according to his arrest report. When he refused, the security guard asked the police to “remove” him, the report says.

Rose was arrested for trespassing, but the charge was dropped last month, records show. “I can’t consider DeSantis a defender of the fundamental human right to self-defense,” he said. “It’s just talk.”

Valdes of Gun Owners of America, who also warned supporters about the no-weapons policy before the event, said he was shocked to see Rose get arrested as he handed out literature opposing gun-free zones. “It’s a very delicate balancing act because there are credible threats against public officials, but we also have to respect the public’s civil rights” to carry guns, he said.

Valdes had attended a DeSantis campaign event one month earlier, in September, where guns also were prohibited. “All attendees must undergo security screening prior to entering the event,” read a notice from the governor’s campaign about the event in Dover, Fla., where DeSantis received an endorsement from the Florida Farm Bureau Federation’s political action committee.

Representatives of the farm bureau and the site that hosted the event said they were not in charge of security.

“I wasn’t happy about it, but I secured my firearm in my vehicle,” Valdes said. “It was a public event in a field and in no way would a bad guy with ill intentions have been stopped.”

Concealed weapons were also forbidden at Unite & Win rallies in August where DeSantis stumped alongside Republican candidates in Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania, Business Insider reported. The events were organized by Turning Point Action, a conservative advocacy group. Turning Point Action spokesman Andrew Kolvet said it is not the organization’s policy to ban firearms at its events, though some venues prohibit weapons. “Just like we’ve done in the past with the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies, we coordinated with Florida Department of Law Enforcement and followed FDLE’s direction,” he said.

Valdes and other gun rights advocates say they are reluctant to criticize DeSantis because of his pro-gun rights record as governor and a former U.S. House member.

When DeSantis was serving in Congress in 2018, Florida’s GOP-controlled government passed a gun-control law following the massacre of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla. The legislation raised the minimum age for buying firearms from 18 to 21. As a candidate for governor that spring, DeSantis said he was “disappointed that the Florida Legislature is rushing to restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens.” He added, “Better to focus on denying firearms to dangerous individuals, which avoids infringing on constitutional rights and is also more likely to be effective.”

In 2021, DeSantis signed a bill that allows concealed weapon permit holders to carry their guns into churches or other religious institutions even if they share property with schools.

After 10 people were gunned down at a Buffalo grocery store in May, DeSantis said of mass shooters, “They are not dumb, because they pick their targets and they know — and the Buffalo guy said he wanted to go where he knew there wouldn’t be blowback from people being armed, and so he tried to find a gun-free zone.” The governor added, “What you do is, you focus on the criminal. You focus on the lunatic. You don’t kneecap the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

The next month, DeSantis praised a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a New York law requiring people who want to carry handguns to show they have a special need to defend themselves. “What you don’t want is to have a government bureaucrat stymie your ability to exercise your constitutional rights,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis also has pledged to sign a permitless concealed carry law, though he has not directly endorsed a bill in the Florida legislature that drew criticism at its first committee hearing this week, with gun-control advocates saying it will lead to violence and pro-gun activists arguing that it should allow them to openly carry weapons. Representatives of the governor did not respond to questions from The Post about whether he would support an “open carry” provision in the bill.

“Constitutional carry — I’ve been in favor of the whole time,” DeSantis said in August. “And so we think we will be able to do that, but that really requires the legislature to get it to my desk. I’m not the issue. I will sign it. That will be an easy thing to do.”

 

The secret DeSanctimonious gun ban

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