What a difference a day makes. On Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida signed a bill into law that allows any legal gun owner in Florida to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. We Utahns will get to celebrate DeSantis’s expansive achievement here in the Beehive State at our state Republican convention on April 22.
But, guess what? DeSantis only talks the talk. He’s banning guns at the convention because of the “political climate.” At least that was the plan on Tuesday morning.
Then, I suppose that stance didn’t look so hot to the gun lobby or his pro-gun base. So, the Utah GOP stepped in and fell on its bayonet for the visiting governor. Although pro-gun DeSantis wanted the event to be gun-free, the Utah GOP has overruled him and said that although guns were initially banned (and they will be using magnetometers to check attendees for weapons) those with concealed carry permits can now bring their guns to the event.
Is your head spinning? Mine sure is.
OK. So, guns at the convention are a go. But the cat is out of the bag: DeSantis is all for arming the nation – except when his personal safety might be at risk. Oh, the hypocrisy!
I thought guns were safe? I thought guns don’t kill people – people kill people.
I am so tired of hypocritical people who preach, “Do as I say, not as I do.” DeSantis is king of the hypocrites. Get that man a crown.
Firearms are the number one killer of children in America. And people like DeSantis (who are clearly afraid of both guns and the voters who love them) just keep opening the floodgates to more guns.
Most of us want common sense gun laws – universal background checks, waiting periods, raising the federal age for buying semi-automatic rifles, increasing penalties for gun trafficking, requiring safe storage of guns, and adding personal liability to gun owners if their gun harms somebody. Most of us also want to do something about the mental health component of gun violence.
But, despite this desire for change, not much is being done. It’s weird, right?
Americans are dying in gun violence daily. I thought after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, the laws around gun ownership would change dramatically. So many innocent people died that day. Why is it still happening? Because politicians like DeSantis are cowards.
Don’t you think politicians should actually have to live in the dystopian worlds they create? Like the rest of us? Why are the rules different for DeSantis?
They shouldn’t be.
It’s clear: DeSantis knows that guns really do kill people, and he doesn’t want to be in a room full of strangers who are armed. But he will take that risk with your life, and mine, and our children’s lives.
Pay attention: He’s not interested in taking any chances with the safety of Ron DeSantis. We are a different story. That should disqualify him from ever serving higher office.
People who say one thing and do another are not to be trusted. They are in it for themselves, alone.
Governor DeSantis: I’d respect you if you signed gun laws into place and then lived by that truth. I’d still disagree with your stance on open carry. But, at least you’d be walking your truth. You wouldn’t be advocating for open carry and then banning guns when it suited you.
I’m a mom and I have two children. One, who is entering college next year, says she went to high school every day expecting to die. She says the movie of her generation is “The Fallout.” Watch it. It’ll break your heart.
The other, 15, has asked me why a stranger might want to kill him. After one shooting far away, I dropped him off at Sunday school, and he went up to the police officer and thanked him for standing by the door to our house of worship. I cried in my car.
What are we doing here? The biggest gun advocates don’t want guns in their midst – even as they sign bills into law that bring more guns into our communities.
DeSantis revealed a lot about his aspirations, his ego, and his priorities by initially banning guns at the State GOP convention. And now, he’s forcing our GOP members to stand their ground.
DeSantis is pandering to a gun lobby instead of listening to countless moms, dads, police chiefs, faith leaders, kids, students and the community at large.
With folks like this in power, we will never be safe.
I must know, Governor DeSantis: Why do you see so clearly when it’s your safety that is on the line and seem so blind when it comes to mine?
Alisha Gorder
Alisha Gorder is a wife and mother who lives in Park City.
