Advice to the good people of Florida: Get a gun license.
Apparently the Florida Legislature thinks that citizens can be their own police.
It recently voted in favor of HB-249, which gives the right for citizens to use “deadly force” when being threatened with guns or other deadly weapons.
The bill also stated that they removed “the duty to retreat” implied by the original castle doctrine.
The bill gives entirely too much freedom to the trigger-happy, gun-toting NRA members who want an excuse to kill the people who tick them off.
One example of the potential violence that might ensue in Florida was given by Rep. Ari Abraham Porthos.
Porthos suggested that if he was in line at Publix and someone cut in front of him, he could say something to them and if they pushed him or used physical force, he could “bust a cap in them.”
HB-249 would also give street gangs free reign to kill each other because the majority of their acts are in “self-defense.”
The government should really consider the consequences of passing legislation to appease the NRA. If citizens have to start toting guns just to feel like their peers won’t try to kill them and claim self-defense, then Florida will become a frightening place to live.
Parents of kidnapped children should recognize their part in tragedy
For the second time in less than two months, another teenage girl has gone missing from her home in Florida.
First, it was nine-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford, who was discovered missing from her home in Homosassa.
Police later determined that 46-year-old John Evander Couey, a registered sex offender who lived in her neighborhood, was responsible for her kidnapping, and death.
Now, another girl, 13-year-old Sarah Lunde has been missing from her home in Ruskin since Saturday night.
In Lunsford’s case, she was taken from her bedroom as she and her family slept.
According to police, Lunde never returned from walking to the store Saturday night.
In both of these cases, these young girls were in vulnerable positions and situations that could’ve been avoided.
In the case of Lunsford, although she was home, the door to her house was unlocked, even though a registered sex offender lived just a few houses down from the family.
In Lunde’s case, there’s no reason for a 13-year-old girl to walk to the store alone on a Saturday night.
While parent’s cannot watch over their children 24/7, there comes a point when common sense comes into play.
It seems that parents have a false sense of security. The world is dangerous. There’s no reason anyone should be sleeping in their home with their doors unlocked, and 13-year-old girls certainly shouldn’t be walking in the dark by themselves.
While it’s sad to say, that’s the reality that we live in. Both girls were from relatively quiet towns, which may have lead to their families’ false sense of security. But rapists, kidnappers and murderers also live in small towns.