Florida forces cities to pull local gun laws

State begins enforcing statute that bars firearms ordinances

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ New York Times

Published 12:01 a.m., Sunday, September 11, 2011 MIAMI -- \The signs -- "No Guns Allowed" -- are being stripped from many Florida parks, government buildings, libraries and airports. And local ordinances that bar people from shooting weapons in their yards, firing up into the air or taking a gun into an airport are coming off the books.

Since 1987, local governments in Florida have been barred from creating and enforcing their own gun ordinances.

Few cities and counties paid attention, though, believing that gun laws in places like Miami might need to be more restrictive than the state laws applicable in rural Apalachicola, for example.

But this year the state Legislature passed a new law that forces counties and municipalities to do away with, and stop enforcing, their own firearms and ammunition ordinances by Oct. 1. Mayors, council and commission members will risk a $5,000 fine and removal from office if they "knowingly and willfully violate" the law. Towns that enforce their ordinances risk a $100,000 fine.

To comply with the law, cities and counties are poring over their gun ordinances, repealing laws and removing gun-related signs.

In Palm Beach County, that means removing ordinances that ban people from taking guns into county government buildings and local parks and from firing guns in some of its most urban areas.

State lawmakers who supported the bill, which was backed by the National Rifle Association, said complaining local governments were overreacting.

"The notion that a city ordinance stops violence is patently absurd," said state Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Fort Walton Beach Republican who sponsored the bill. "People lawfully carrying weapons with permits are rarely part of the problem."

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Florida-forces-cities-to-pull-local-gun-laws-2164827.php#ixzz1Xe2lFVI3