Sen. Martin files bill removing three-day waiting period for most firearms in Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, filed legislation on Thursday that would remove the three-day waiting period requirement to purchase a firearm, with the exception of handguns.
The bill also exempts people from having to compete the three-day waiting period to purchase a handgun if they already hold a concealed weapons permit.
Martin told Florida’s Voice that the intent of the bill, SB 1124, is to not let bureaucrats “sit” on a pending background check approval for long periods of time.
“Right now, there have been situations where people have been waiting months and months and months with no end in sight,” Martin said.
He discussed how, because of the way in which the law is worded, bureaucrats have “no duty” to hurry up the background check process.
Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former Democratic state representative and current candidate for state Senate, took to social media in frustration over the bill filed by Martin.
“A Florida GOP senator just filed [SB] 1124 completely eliminating our 3-day waiting period to buy AR-15s,” Smith said. “Loosening access to the same weapons of war used to kill 49 people at Pulse nightclub + 17 people in Parkland is as dangerous as it is disgraceful.”
Martin responded to those types of criticisms by defending his policy and how it would not lead to an increase in mass shootings.
“There’s government incompetence around all of those mass shootings and giving the government more power is not the solution to law-abiding citizens being able to protect themselves,” Martin said in response.
“Ironically, the Pulse night club shooter, as we all know, a gun shop owner had reported the shooter to the FBI before the attack,” Martin said. “And said that this person was mentally unstable and the FBI completely dropped the ball.”
“Another prime example of government not working properly, as we saw with the investigation into the Parkland high school shooting, multiple agencies [were] not communicating with each other, dropping the ball,” he said.
