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Florida Legislature

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Dale L. Gillis

Published: May 9, 2008

Floridians are now in danger from yet another act of the Florida Legislature. Allowing employees to keep guns in their cars at work even when their employers object only facilitates workplace violence. This bill should have been titled the Workplace Violence Enabling Act.

Oddly enough, media coverage gives the impression that the only issue is "gun rights" versus the property rights of employers. Apparently the public safety and the safety of employees isn't worth mentioning.

Gun laws passed by the Florida Legislature in the last few years flies in the face of every known fact about gun violence. Take the so-called Castle Law, which encourages gun toters to shoot whenever they feel threatened. This ill-advised law gives those who shoot first more rights in Florida than any other jurisdiction in the world.

Who advised against the Castle law, or Shoot First Law, as some call it? Legal counsel for the Brady Campaign says that there is nothing to stop someone from starting a confrontation and then being the first to draw a gun and fire when it gets out of control. The only requirement is that the shooter says that he felt threatened.

Rep. Dan Gelber, a former federal prosecutor, is a Democrat from Miami. Gelber says the law comes close to legalizing duels. Law professor Eugene O'Donnell said that the law relies on simplistic stereotypes.

Columnist Tom Lyons, in the Sarasota Herald Tribune, criticized the Shoot First law, pointing out that there is no simple way to sort out these confrontations later. "There is often no easy way to know who was more at fault," he said.

Martin Segal writes the Ask Doctor Law column in the Miami Herald. Segal said that some lawyers refer to the "Stand Your Ground" law as the "Shoot Your Avon Lady" law. Segal fears that "an escalation of gun crimes" and "Wild West vigilantism" is the most likely result.

Dale L. Gillis
Sebring

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