In Florida, the NRA Demands Total Obedience. These War Stories Show Why Orlando Won’t Change That.
In late May, Florida Governor Rick Scott’s office received more than 5,400 emails about a state legislator who is seeking appointment to a circuit court in the Jacksonville area. The subject line of each message declared that Charles McBurney, a Republican, was “unfit” for the job.
McBurney “arrogantly put his blind ambition to become a judge ahead of your constitutional right of self-defense,” the messages read.
The email blast was part of an ongoing campaign by the National Rifle Association, the nation’s preeminent gun lobby, to block McBurney’s path to the court. His infraction: As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, he had declined to bring up for a vote a bill that would strengthen Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law.
McBurney, who voted with the NRA on every other piece of gun-related legislation for the entirety of his entire nine-year career, has said he opposed the policy change, which would have made it more difficult to prosecute anyone claiming self-defense in a shooting. Now, having defied the gun organization, his campaign for the judicial appointment may be in jeopardy.
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https://www.thetrace.org/2016/06/nra-florida-no-tighter-gun-laws-orlando-shooting/
