FL Bill Ends Waiting Period To Buy Assault Weapons

Jacksonville’s CBS affiliate reports:

A bill filed ahead of the upcoming Florida legislative session could potentially allow people to obtain firearms either before three-day waiting period expires or before their background check clears, undoing a key piece of the gun safety legislation passed after the Parkland Shooting.

Prior to that legislation the three-day waiting period only applied to handgun sales, but it now applies to the sale of all firearms.

Gun safety advocates like Katie Hathaway with Moms Demand Action fear that will create opportunities for people who aren’t allowed to have firearms to get ahold of them. But the bill sponsor State Representative Dr. Joel Rudman (R-Navarre) argued the current law has created burdensome delays for Floridians who do have the right to own a gun.

Read the full article. Rudman, a medical doctor, first appeared here in April 2023 for his bill allowing doctors to refuse to treat LGBTQ patients and others on the grounds of “conscience-based objections.” DeSantis signed his bill into law in May 2023. Florida Sen. Jonathan Martin, who authored a successful bill allowing the death penalty for child predators, has filed a companion bill on ending the gun waiting period.

A Florida GOP Senator just filed HB 1124 completely eliminating our 3-day waiting period to buy AR-15s.

Loosening access to the same weapons of war used to kill 49 people at Pulse nightclub + 17 people in Parkland is as dangerous as it is disgraceful.

Have we learned nothing? pic.twitter.com/A7T8Fxy5s0

— Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) December 29, 2023