The young girl had it coming. After all, she was on a gun range.
Well, let me rephrase that: she was inside her own home in a quiet neighborhood.
But thanks to Rick Scott and the NRA-controlled legislature, the whole state is now an open gun range. The girl was reaching for her mom, who was foolishly looking out of her own sliding glass door at the gun nut, firing uncontrollably, on his makeshift gun range with houses all around.
A bullet sliced through the young girl’s hand. She is now in tremendous pain.
"It's in a lot of pain right now, the pain doesn't go away".
Well, go f--- yourself, little girl. That is what you get for living in Florida. The shooter, Harold Lanham, has a lawyer that put it best:
"This was a tragic result, this young lady (getting) hurt,” said Mike Chionopolous, Lanham’s attorney. “But he wasn’t doing anything illegal.”
His lawyer made clear that his client was acting within Florida law. He’s right.
Thanks to Rick Scott and a teabag legislature that literally takes orders from the Florida NRA, there are no restrictions whatsoever on building makeshift gun ranges: any type of weapon or ammo that can be used, any time of day or night, without any regard to proximity of houses, schools, daycare centers, and playgrounds!
And just for good measure, Marion Hammer ensured that Florida's state legislature enacted a "pre-emption law" that levies a $5,000 fine on any local official who tries to limit home-made gun ranges.
Marion Hammer, former president of the FL NRA, is the most powerful lobbyist in Tallahassee. She always gets her way. The legislature doesn’t even pretend to be in charge. They let the NRA write the laws. Ladd Everitt of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence:
“She writes gun policy in that state and the legislators rubberstamp whatever she tells them to do, and that's why you have this situation."
And that includes letting a young girl get shot.
Lanham’s lawyer again: “There’s no doubt this was a tragedy,” Chionopolous said. “But I’m sorry, sometimes accidents happen, and that doesn’t mean somebody’s committed a crime simply because there’s a tragic outcome.”
This warped mentality is the terror that myself and my neighbors live under. Rick Scott allowed the NRA to write a law back in 2012 that repealed every single gun ordinance in the state. Essentially, no city or town can add any laws not covered in the state constitution. The thing is, the state constituion doesn't cover local gun ordinances, because it's a f---ing state constitution whose framers rightly assumed that local governments would be in charge of local laws. Whereas it might make sense to allow makeshift gun ranges in an extremely rural area, probably not so much in a densely populated area with lots of neighborhoods and apartment complexes. Unfortunately, those areas can't restrict gun nuts from firing up neighborhoods for funsies because, as former Florida governor Bush succinctly tweeted, "America."
Many of us felt the repercussions instantly. I wrote about a guy in the neighborhood next to mine who took an assault rifle to a retention pond. As I recall, he gave the same defense Bush did: "’merica!" (The irony of his Confederate flag-laden truck was lost on him.)
DailyKos user Pajoly lived next to a gun nut who set up a feeble range right next to where his kid was sleeping. Again, perfectly legal. Another Florida Kossak, Vetwife, wrote about an idiot shooting up her yard as well.
Stephen Colbert covered this gun nut, who shot various weapons throughout the day in a very densely-populated community in his driveway. His home is directly in front of a heavily trafficked waterway! Does your state allow that? Of course not. Because your state is probably somewhat sane. Yet thanks to the teabag monsters in our state legislature, we have this:
This year, the NRA is pushing for open carry laws, similar to the ones in Texas, as well as an “enhancement" to Stand Your Ground that will give even more protection to the George Zimmermans running around. (Just what we need!) Worst of all, they want to force guns (even assault rifles) onto our school campuses. This, despite vehement oppositon by college staff, faculty, and students. University police departments are also arguing that it will cost millions for them to beef up their security apparatuses for the incoming influx of guns. Naturally, they are all being ignored and the bill will likely pass.
Colleges in Florida, up till now, have been one of the few safe zones relatively untouched by the ugly gun violence here. The Florida NRA wil not let that stand.
In case you are wondering where the Democrats are in all of this, they do what Florida Dems do best: ball up in the corner. A few Stockholm-syndrome Democrats in the legislature even support this madness. If my state party had any brain power, they would rally around a statewide amendment that they could take directly to the people of Florida banning gun nuts from shooting up neighborhoods. That is the kind of common sense the overwhelming majority of people in this state would support.
Unfortunately, the toxic combination of incompetence in my party and apathy in my electorate pretty much guarantees this won’t happen.
In the meantime, the shooter, Mr. Lanham, was released on bond. The initial charges were dropped against him because he discharged a firearm on his own property. The police are now trying to charge him with shooting a missile into a dwelling. At least that is still illegal in Florida--for now.
Just please don't tell Marion Hammer.