Tagged: guns

The Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention commissioned a survey last month to measure South Floridians' attitudes about guns as opposed to the rest of the state.

Results show residents overwhelmingly support background checks for all gun purchases.

The institute in South Miami was founded by Lynn Aptman. Her daughter Melissa was shot to death during a carjacking in St. Louis two weeks before her college graduation in 1995.

Results from a Quinnipiac University poll last month show Florida voters like the idea of universal background checks for gun buyers.

They also like the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, isn't surprised by either of those results.

The horrific killing of 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., revived the debate over gun control in the United States. President Barack Obama outlined his controversial proposal for gun control last Wednesday, including requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales, strengthening the ban on assault weapons, and limiting high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Florida taxpayers are helping subsidize three industries that have been blamed for recent mass shootings: violent movies, bloody video games and high-powered assault weapons.

As New York and other states strengthen their gun control laws in response to the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., the chances of that happening in Florida appear dim.

"Remember, this a Republican-controlled Legislature, and they are very much about trying to honor yhe Constitution and the Second Amendment," says our Tallahassee reporter, Gina Jordan.

Our partners at The Takeaway have been following responses across the country to last year's string of mass shootings.

Their last stop, Texas, focused on the story and activism of Suzanna Gratia Hupp, who said that a mass shooting she witnessed in Texas would have turned out differently had she been allowed to carry a gun.   

South Florida gun dealers are warning that a ban on assault weapons, as President Obama is asking from Congress, will result only in a new flood of higher-priced weapons on American streets.

Hialeah gun factory owner Antonio "Tony" Vega says fundamental economic principles kick in every time gun owners feel their rights are under threat.

Indications are growing that the gun lobby might face unusual difficulties in the Florida Legislature this year.  

In Tallahassee on Monday, the Republican chairman of the Senate Education Committee announced his opposition to arming Florida school teachers as a defense against school shooters and a Democratic senator filed a bill to repeal one of the National Rifle Association's trophy bills from 2011, the law forbidding doctors to ask patients whether they have guns at home.

On the one month anniversary of the Newtown, CT school shooting, mayors across South Florida and the country called for stricter gun regulations on Monday. Among them was Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado.

An appeals court says a South Florida union leader can have a gun at work, even without a concealed-weapons permit.

This case revolves around whether a union is considered a “place of business.”

State law allows people to have guns at work even if they don’t have a permit.

But Torrence Little was arrested anyway.

In June of 2011, someone reported a man with a gun in a union hall parking lot in Ft. Lauderdale.

Little had a gun in his waistband under his shirt. Police took him into custody on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon.

A false alarm at a shopping mall has a Palm Beach County commissioner asking if local businesses are doing enough to protect the public.

Two days before Christmas, Commissioner Shelley Vana was shopping at the Boynton Beach Mall with her five-year-old granddaughter when she heard cries of "Get down!"