DeSantis wanted to ban guns at event, but not to be blamed, emails show

Reptile

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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.


“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.”

 
The DeSantis campaign did not deny they made the request.

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.”

That is a classic bullshit political deflection. Don't you suppose if they had really not made the request, they would have just stated a simple honest "we didn't ask them to do that".

There's an email thread of the venue discussing what they should do about the request.
 
Don't be duped!!

People are getting bent out of shape by someone wanting to control their security at a high profile event ,, get real! One of the comments in the article had a critic bemoaning the fact that DeSantis wants his events to be gun free zones ... that is total rubbish. He's providing security for the event ... lots of guns. it is VERY different from your local cinema or school prohibiting firearms ... they are just wishing on rainbows and doing ZERO to provide security ... even if DeSantis himself made the request (which it doesn't look like from the way they carefully state throughout that his campaign did) but even if he did make the request, he's been villified and hated by the left, so if he wasn't just a tad concerned about his security, then he'd be an idiot! His house, his rules ... I see no contradiction between this request and his support for 2A ...
 
Don't be duped!!

People are getting bent out of shape by someone wanting to control their security at a high profile event ,, get real! One of the comments in the article had a critic bemoaning the fact that DeSantis wants his events to be gun free zones ... that is total rubbish. He's providing security for the event ... lots of guns. it is VERY different from your local cinema or school prohibiting firearms ... they are just wishing on rainbows and doing ZERO to provide security ... even if DeSantis himself made the request (which it doesn't look like from the way they carefully state throughout that his campaign did) but even if he did make the request, he's been villified and hated by the left, so if he wasn't just a tad concerned about his security, then he'd be an idiot! His house, his rules ... I see no contradiction between this request and his support for 2A ...
Meh, not wanting guns in a situation where tensions are high isn't that big a deal.

I still go with the old, if someone wants to do evil, they will do evil, but if it's a no gun area, it gives you some evidence if you catch someone with a gun with the intent. Sorry for the long sentence.
 
Meh, not wanting guns in a situation where tensions are high isn't that big a deal.

I still go with the old, if someone wants to do evil, they will do evil, but if it's a no gun area, it gives you some evidence if you catch someone with a gun with the intent. Sorry for the long sentence.
Yeah... devils advocate though

If you're a true 2a supporter you flip it and say look they're armed and nothing happened because my supporters arent the problem
 
People are getting bent out of shape by someone wanting to control their security at a high profile event ,, get real! One of the comments in the article had a critic bemoaning the fact that DeSantis wants his events to be gun free zones ... that is total rubbish. He's providing security for the event ... lots of guns. it is VERY different from your local cinema or school prohibiting firearms ...
What guns is he providing?
Probably guns for HIS personal security people.

HIS security is cool, but you are not.

Think about it.
 
I don't care if DeSantis wants people unarmed directly around him I only care if he supports people's rights to buy, own and carry firearms in their everyday life. Didn't Florida just go permitless carry?

This point, I get it.

My house my rules but I don't tell you what to do when you are outside my house.
 
Florida might've had constitutional carry last year, certainly had and have the votes to do it.

But last year the focus was an anti woke stuff and shipping illegals to the Vineyard, and running most of the Dem's in FL out of office.

This year it's gun rights and some more anti-woke stuff- and seeing how they can torpedo a legalize recreational weed ballot initiative (again).

Next year running for president.

Gotta check off the boxes.
 
I don't care if DeSantis wants people unarmed directly around him I only care if he supports people's rights to buy, own and carry firearms in their everyday life. Didn't Florida just go permitless carry?
Going to an event with your governor is “everyday life.”

He‘s a politician. None of us should be surprised if he’s a hypocrite. I’d still vote for him over many people; I just hope I’d be clear-eyed about it.
 
This is really very simple, either people are trusted to be armed or not. A criminal, terrorist or other miscreant will ignore the DeSantis gun ban anyway. So it only affects the law abiding who are now potential victims as they walk from the event back to their cars late at night. This guy DeSantis is every bit as anti gun as any democrat.
 
We shouldn’t necessarily have a real problem with him banning the guns at the event. Any LEO or “security consultant” would have advised him to do just that. We can disagree with that decision, but any of us could always choose not to attend.

We SHOULD have a problem with DeSantis wanting to cover up that banning the guns was his call. A big problem.
 
I don't care if DeSantis wants people unarmed directly around him I only care if he supports people's rights to buy, own and carry firearms in their everyday life. Didn't Florida just go permitless carry?

It’s in committee. I believe the anti 2A amendment attempts were defeated. It’s probably 45 days or more until they pass it. The GOP has 70%/30% control in the house and senate, the governor supports it and the leaders have made it a priority. It’s passage is almost guaranteed. What will be interesting is if they address open carry at all or at least eliminate the possibility of assets for accidentally showing you’re carrying.
 
It’s in committee. I believe the anti 2A amendment attempts were defeated. It’s probably 45 days or more until they pass it. The GOP has 70%/30% control in the house and senate, the governor supports it and the leaders have made it a priority. It’s passage is almost guaranteed. What will be interesting is if they address open carry at all or at least eliminate the possibility of assets for accidentally showing you’re carrying.
This bill, HB 543 is a huge dissappointment. Read it here.

It fails to get rid of any of the long list of no carry zones in Florida, does not have open carry and because it does not repeal the 3 day waiting period for buying a gun that applys only to NON concealed weapons license holders, it is doubtful that few FL residents will forgo the license. Out of state visitors from states that don't reciprocate with FL will probably gain the most with this very weak bill.

The question is will anti-gun faker DeSantis sign a stronger bill? Maybe he told the legislature to send him such a weak bill. We will probably never know but what we do know is he is more obsessed with gay bashing and Disney bashing than expanding 2A rights.
 
Going to an event with your governor is “everyday life.”

He‘s a politician. None of us should be surprised if he’s a hypocrite. I’d still vote for him over many people; I just hope I’d be clear-eyed about it.
I've never been to an event with any governor. That's certainly not my everyday life
 
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