Firearm fiction
It is beyond comprehension why every sheriff and chief of police in Florida hasn’t joined together to oppose the ridiculous NRA-backed gun bills being filed by bought-and-paid-for legislators, and especially this year.
As a concealed carry owner in three states over 45 years and former law enforcement officer, I’m disappointed and surprised that there isn’t a rampant opposition with a thousand uniformed protesters with a unanimous voice at the capitol building demanding these obviously bad gun bills be voted down by lawmakers.
Our entire system of government appears of late to have entered a “Twilight Zone” in which logic, common sense and intelligence has totally dissipated into hyperbole and fantasy.
To argue that untrained citizens, immature youth or impaired seniors are capable of calm reasoning and sufficient skill to prevent a shooter in a public arena by shooting them first — not withstanding the untenable position it places on first responders — are the ramblings of either mentally disturbed or stupid people.
A reality check would prove that not even our citizen hero Charlie Bronson, as Carl Hiaasen wrote in his March 5 column “Bang, bang, you’re dead, and so are you and you and …” could do that. What must be killed are these very dangerous gun bills being considered in our Legislature this year.
Ernie Bach, Largo
This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 1:32 AM with the headline "Firearm fiction."