In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
FL;Weston firearms law is tossed out
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Weston firearms law is tossed outBy Joe Kollin Staff Writer Posted March 31 2002 WESTON ? A state appeals court has shot down a Weston city commissioner's two-year battle to require trigger locks on guns in homes where small children are present.The Miami-based Third District Court of Appeal this month ruled that state law gives the state Legislature the exclusive right to regulate firearms in Florida. Therefore, it said, an ordinance adopted by the city of South Miami requiring trigger locks in homes in that city is illegal. South Miami in 2000 was the first city in Florida to try making an end-run around the 1987 state law.On July 11, 2000, state Attorney General Bob Butterworth called South Miami's new ordinance constitutional because it doesn't interfere with the right to bear arms.The next day, Weston City Commissioner Edwin Jacobson said he would try to get a similar ordinance in his city. The day after that, the National Rifle Association's Florida affiliate, anxious to close the floodgates before other cities got into the act, announced it would challenge South Miami's ordinance.Jacobson pursued the matter, but the Weston City Commission wouldn't act while the NRA was appealing South Miami's ordinance.Last year, a Miami-Dade Circuit judge tossed out the appeal, which allowed South Miami's ordinance to stand. Jacobson tried again to get the Weston commission interested. Although three commissioners, a majority, informally agreed to adopt an ordinance, the NRA appealed the decision by the Miami-Dade court and the case went to the appeal court before Weston could act.Jacobson's proposal has been languishing since.Whether South Miami appeals to the Florida Supreme Court is uncertain, although South Miami Mayor Julio Robaina, said he wants to. "I will not rest here," the mayor said. "This is about saving lives.''Jacobson said he hopes South Miami appeals."I think the court was wrong and the attorney general was right," he said. "But I don't know where I can go with it; it was an appellate decision."Marion Hammer, president of Unified Sportsmen of Florida, the NRA's Florida arm, said state law is clear that cities can't regulate firearms.In its ruling, the appeals court acknowledges the mire it has stepped into."Here we have various well-meaning litigants eyeball to eyeball across counsel table, the city wondering whether its ordinance has been preempted [by the state] or whether it can enforce its own collective will over firearms, others wondering whether they are going to be illegally prosecuted by the city come next dove-hunting season, and the Florida attorney general wondering whether the judiciary will agree with his opinion on municipal regulation of firearms."Joe Kollin can be reached at jkollin@sun-sentinel or 954-385-7913. Email this story to a friend Printer friendly versionMORE HEADLINES Broward students embark on tour of historically black colleges Faithful customers in a pickle 24,000 flock to Lauderdale stadium for Easter services Cancer survivor: `I really feel like I have a new life' School code facing overhaul http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/search/sfl-we31gunsmar31.story?coll=sfla-broward-archives Copyright c 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel