BREAKING: Florida legislative session ends without passing constitutional carry

Republican lawmakers can't get out of their own way.

Once again, Florida’s legislative session has ended. Once again, lawmakers failed to pass constitutional carry — the only bill that really mattered to the state’s gun owners.

Florida could have been the 23rd state to pass constitutional carry. Instead, we must wait yet another year.

I’ve always preferred fixing the problem rather than fixing the blame, but during this session, there was a lot of blame to go around.

Some will point to Rep. Anthony Sabatini, who submitted a constitutional carry bill — the only such bill introduced this session. As soon as Sabatini filed the bill, he began attacking Senate President Wilton Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, calling them RINOs and other epithets. Was Sabatini right in his assessments? He sure was, but the minute he attacked leadership his bill was destined to die a slow, quiet death.

Other lawmakers have blasted Sabatini for failing to secure a Senate sponsor and for refusing to do the other legwork needed to pass legislation. They’re right, too, but Sabatini could have had dozens of Senate sponsors and his bill would still have gone nowhere. I’ll say this about Sabatini, he has his faults, and he was otherwise occupied running for Congress, but at least he introduced a bill. No one else did. Not a single elected official.

If you’re still looking for someone to blame, I’d start with every lawmaker in Tally with an “R” behind their name. To be clear, Republicans controled the House, Senate and Governor’s Mansion and they still couldn’t get their collective shit together and pass a constitutional carry bill. The scale of this fiasco is much bigger than just one Republican lawmaker. They’re all at fault. There are more than a few of them — including a couple in positions of power — who mistakenly believed that their precious feelings were more important than our constitutional rights. I hope they’re happy. They cost us a lot — they cost us everything. They do not belong in public service. They are the very definition of RINOs.