Florida Referendum on Semi-Autos
Fails with 19% of Needed Signatures
By Dean Weingarten. February 9, 2020
Article Source
The Florida referendum to ban common rifles and shotguns as "assault weapons" has failed to gather enough signatures to appear on the 2020 ballot.
From tampabay.com:
To make it on the November ballot, organizers had to gather 766,200 verified signatures by today. The organizers fell well short with just 147,304, according to the Secretary of State.
147,304 signatures is a bit more than 19% of the required number. Signatures are valid for two years.
The ban proponents started to gather signatures on 28 November, 2018. They have until 27 November, 2020, before previously gathered signatures start becoming invalid.
While touted in the legacy media and in proponents' advertising as a "ban on assault weapons", the measure bans possession of virtually all semi-automatic rifles, many semi-automatic shotguns, but no handguns or pistols.
The ignorance of the writers has rendered a referendum that is both draconian and ineffectual for its stated purpose.
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It is to be hoped there will never be the required number of signatures. Florida is not alone with a threat of bans on a wide range of so called "assault weapons' - many states are seeking the same and vigilence must be maintained to protect Second Amendment rights from continued erosion.
