Byron Donalds says he supports repealing Florida's red-flag law
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a GOP candidate for Florida governor, wants to repeal the "red-flag" law.
Byron Donalds says 'job one' for him if elected governor of Florida next year would be the repeal two provisions of the gun-safety package passed by the Florida Legislature following the shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
However, so does Ron DeSantis, and the two measures in question — the state's 'red-flag' law and the ban on individuals under the age of 21 from purchasing a long gun — very much remain the law of the land in Florida.
Donalds appeared Thursday on the Bob Rose Show in Gainesville, where he was asked if he would push for Florida to legalize the open carrying of firearms, another idea the governor has said he supports but which the Legislature has not enacted.
'I would support and push for that, but I think that the bigger thing that we need to get done is really unwinding the red flag laws in our state,' Donalds said.
'When I was in the Legislature, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas bill came through the Legislature. I was a freshman at that time and I opposed that legislation. And I opposed it because I thought that red flag laws really did take away your Fifth Amendment rights as a citizen, and I also felt that there should not be a two-tier system for adults between the ages of 18 and 21.
'I felt that was wrong then, and I still feel that way, so I would tell you that making sure that those two provisions — those constitutional rights are actually restored will probably be job one.'
Formally known as risk-protection orders, the red flag law allows courts to order someone to surrender their firearms if they pose a threat to themselves or others. Former Panhandle Republican Joel Rudman filed a measure to repeal that law late last year, but he resigned to run for Congress in January, and his legislation was never picked up by any of his colleagues during this session.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump-Musk feud: Are electric vehicles and Tesla at the heart of the breakup?
The President of the United States of America and one of the world's most influential billionaires are at odds after months of collaboration. The confrontation escalated Thursday with Elon Musk saying Trump would have lost the election without him in a post on X. President Donald Trump in turn referred to his former senior advisor as "the man who lost his mind" in a Friday morning ABC News phone interview. Republican Trump allies are now also speaking out against Musk. Musk's breakup with the administration has been public and is well-documented, with Trump and the Tesla CEO trading calculated jabs like pro boxers. The underlying reason behind the sudden intense feud is a serious cause of concern for some American car buyers. "Clean Coal" has been a popular buzzword for not one but two presidential campaigns for Donald Trump. So, Elon Musk's initial choice to stand beside a global warming skeptic as the CEO of a clean energy and automotive company was puzzling to say the least. At first, Musk's involvement with the administration was seen by many as mutually beneficial, since the CEO could potentially reap the benefits of government contracts for Tesla and SpaceX. The general public quickly soured to the idea of the eccentric CEO playing a key role in the administration. By April 8, Tesla stock had nosedived 41.50% from its January 2 share price. Tesla dealers have been attacked and vandalized while other Americans have staged peaceful protests against Musk's involvement in government and role at the Department of Government Efficiency. So, why would a guy who once wore a "Trump Was Right About Everything" hat suddenly publicly oppose his new bill? The short answer is, the two don't see eye to eye on the automotive industry's most controversial powertrain option. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill could decimate Tesla. President Donald Trump's stance and actions against EV adoption in America includes: Supporting the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, which suggests phasing out a federal EV tax credit that would benefit thousands of Tesla buyers Claiming former President Joe Biden's EV mandate "would kill 40% of the auto industry's jobs", according to Ordering the shut down of many federal electric vehicle chargers and pausing massive federal EV fleet purchases, according to Elon Musk (and Tesla's) stance and actions for EV adoption in America: Elon Musk bio says "Tesla's mission has been to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy" Musk claimed "the world does need electric cars" during a 60 Minutes interview and factory tour, asserting that Tesla has a crucial role in the future of EVs Tesla has collaborated with Ford, GM, Stellantis, Rivian, Volkswagen, Honda, Acura, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota and more to provide Tesla Supercharger access to EVs, making them easier to charge for American drivers Tesla stock recently plummeted in response to the feud between Trump and Musk. The President has also threatened Musk's government contracts amidst the dispute. The bill appears to be the focal point of the rift, but the two clearly have different ideas on what America's future should be. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk may have been able to join forces over their mutual stances on certain conservative points and a hatred of bureaucracy, but their White House tag team was short-lived. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill directly undermines some of the actions Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have taken since the two united. Trump is 78 years old and expresses a desire to bring America back to a golden age of manufacturing before globalism outsourced American jobs and created a reliance on foreign trade. He also speaks about returning the country to an age where mining and drilling for fossil fuel production were prioritized over environmental concerns. Musk, on the other hand, is a 53-year-old futurist who strives to make humans a multi-planetary species and has made a fortune from innovation and technological disruption. At a glance, the issue seems to be about the One, Big, Beautiful Bill attacking Tesla's bottom line but the two polarizing figures are fundamentally different in terms of future aspirations. Based on Trump's falling out with several former members of the first Trump administration and Musk's known adversarial nature in the private sector, this could be the end for, arguably, the most fascinating duo of 2025. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump vs Elon Musk: Could Tesla, EVs be at the art of the feud?
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Ohio budget moves closer to doing away with elected county coroners
Jun. 6—For now, the Ohio Senate is going along on an Ohio House plan to make county coroners appointed by county commissioners instead of being elected by county voters. But, while the Senate didn't change the House's proposal in its initial draft of the state's two-year operating budget, Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, told reporters that there's still a chance the Senate could eliminate the House's proposal when it amends the budget next week. McColley said he put a request out for those in his caucus with strong feelings on the matter to weigh in. "If members feel strongly that it should go back to the way that it is under current law, then there's a possibility to see an amendment here in the omnibus," McColley told this news outlet. "We didn't see a lot of members — we saw some — but we didn't see a lot of members asking for it to be changed back." The Senate is expected to make those amendments on Wednesday or Thursday of next week. The change could be consequential in counties where county commissioners and the coroner are different political parties. In Montgomery County, for example, the elected coroner is a Republican while Democrats hold two of the three seats on the county commission. The House's primary advocate for the change, county commissioner-turned-lawmaker Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, has framed the change as necessary to solve a scarcity issue. "It's really hard to find folks that want to serve as a coroner at all, it's even harder to find folks who are willing to be the coroner and want to run a political campaign to do so," Stewart said in April. But the proposed change is opposed by Ohio State Coroners Association, whose Executive Director David Corey told this outlet that he's still hopeful that former coroners in the Ohio Senate, like Sen. Matt Huffman, R-Tipp City, will help the Senate reverse course. "Commissioners already have the authority to appoint a physician to be coroner if no one runs," Corey said. "So they already have this authority — so why subject this as a blanket on everyone?" Corey noted that commissioners also already have the authority to contract out with different county coroner offices if there's no elected coroner and the commission cannot find an in-county physician that wants to be appointed. "We don't really know what (problem) the House is trying and the Senate are trying to fix ... other than chipping away at other elected officials," Corey said. Corey said the idea is "wrought with potential problems," and speculated that coroners appointed by commissioners might be more beholden to those officials than they are to the public. He said appointees could also be fired at will, which would make it harder for a coroner to stand up to the commission in budget negotiations or other high-stakes situations. "We just think it's a horrible precedent," Corey said. Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, whose home county of Cuyahoga is one of two counties in the state where the position is already appointed following a local vote, told this outlet that she didn't like the sound of applying the idea to every coroner in the state. "You want the coroner to feel like they can have a lot of pressure on them," Antonio said. "If they're appointed, then it's almost like they have an affiliation to the person that appointed them." She said this could lead to undue influence. "I think we, probably in the long run, would be better off continuing to have them be elected," Antonio said. ------ For more stories like this, sign up for our Ohio Politics newsletter. It's free, curated, and delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday evening. Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
FLASHBACK: Trump ran on being 'King of Debt' in 2016, bragged he could eliminate national debt in 8 years
When Donald Trump ran for president for the first time, he campaigned on reducing the national debt, referring to himself at the time as "the king of debt" and telling voters he would pay off the nation's multi-trillion-dollar debt in 8 years. "I'm the king of debt. I'm great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me," Trump said during an interview with CBS's Norah O'Donnell in the lead up to the 2016 election. "I've made a fortune by using debt, and if things don't work out I renegotiate the debt. I mean, that's a smart thing, not a stupid thing." "We've got to get rid of the $19 trillion in debt," Trump said a few months prior on the campaign trail during an interview with The Washington Post. When asked how long it would take, Trump responded: "I would say over a period of eight years … The power is trade. Our deals are so bad." Senate Weighs Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' As Policy Group Backs Cbo, Projects $3 Trillion Debt Increase The nation's ever-rising debt is once again a focus for Trump, as GOP defectors over his "big, beautiful bill," have largely staked their concerns around arguments that the Republican Party's new spending package will increase the national debt and deficit too much, with the Congressional Budget Office estimating it will add roughly $3 trillion over the next decade. The debt currently stands at more than $36.2 trillion according to Fox Business' U.S. National Debt Tracker. Read On The Fox News App Elon Musk, who has cemented his stance in recent days against the Trump-endorsed spending package – leading to a highly-publicized feud between the two leaders – has argued that bill "undermines" the work he did while leading the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) because it does not cut spending enough. "This immense level of overspending will drive America into debt slavery!" Musk declared early on Wednesday in a post on X, shortly after he called the bill a "disgusting abomination." Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' Needs A 'Fat Shot' To End Our Dangerous Debt Addiction Shortly thereafter, Musk referenced an X post from GOP Utah Sen. Mike Lee, which argued that "the accrued interest on the national debt now exceeds $1 trillion a year." This is more than the country spends on defense annually, Lee's post added. "And yet Congress continues to add to the debt at an astounding rate of $2 trillion per year—with our national debt growing faster than our economy." In another X post from Musk, in the lead up to his feud with Trump this week, he succinctly described the U.S.'s $36.2 trillion debt as "scary." Even before the highly publicized feud between Musk and Trump over the contentious GOP spending package, Musk called the rising national debt "terrifying" and lamented "America is headed for de facto bankruptcy very fast." "President Trump is the first president in modern history to seriously tackle the waste, fraud, and abuse in our bloated government. He has already trimmed billions in astonishingly mindless government spending across the administration, and now he is spearheading The One, Big, Beautiful Bill – which will be the largest deficit reduction in decades," White House spokesman Kush Desai said to Fox News Digital in a statement Friday article source: FLASHBACK: Trump ran on being 'King of Debt' in 2016, bragged he could eliminate national debt in 8 years
