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George Gainer takes a licking on social media

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Social media reaction was hard and swift this weekend against state Sen. George Gainer, the Panama City Republican who filed legislation last session to remove liability for drivers who “unintentionally” hurt or kill protesters or others “obstruct(ing)” traffic.

On Saturday, Gainer tweeted, “If I do not love, I am nothing,” quoting Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians.

That was in response to a “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, Virginia, where an alleged white nationalist drove his car into another car, which struck a crowd of counterprotesters, according to a New York Times report.

Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old Charlottesville paralegal, was killed; 19 others were injured. Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe later declared a state of emergency.

“Says the guy who wants to legalize murdering protesters with vehicles,” the first reply to Gainer on Twitter said. “Guess who I won’t be voting for next year,” said another.

“You have blood on your hands from the tragedy in Charlottesville. America will be better off when you no longer represent it,” said still another, followed by, “So how does the love go along with murdering protesters? Just asking.”

Gainer was not immediately available Monday morning, nor was state Rep. Jayer Williamson, the Pace Republican who filed an identical companion bill in the House. Both men were first elected last year.

The measures died in committees during the 2017 Legislative Session. A similar bill has not yet been filed for 2018.

Last session’s bill would have created a misdemeanor for anyone who “obstruct(s) or interfere(s) with … traffic on a public road, street, or highway during a protest or demonstration for which a public assembly permit or other applicable special event permit has not been issued by a county or municipality.”

The language at issue says a driver “who unintentionally causes injury or death to a person who obstructs or interferes with the regular flow of vehicular traffic” under the first section “is not liable for such injury or death.” That person would have had the legal “burden of proving that … (an) injury or death was not unintentional.”

Similar bills were filed in at least 18 states earlier this year, after the election of President Donald Trump, the Washington Post reported.

Before joining Florida Politics, journalist and attorney James Rosica was state government reporter for The Tampa Tribune. He attended journalism school in Washington, D.C., working at dailies and weekly papers in Philadelphia after graduation. Rosica joined the Tallahassee Democrat in 1997, later moving to the courts beat, where he reported on the 2000 presidential recount. In 2005, Rosica left journalism to attend law school in Philadelphia, afterwards working part time for a public-interest law firm. Returning to writing, he covered three legislative sessions in Tallahassee for The Associated Press, before joining the Tribune’s re-opened Tallahassee bureau in 2013. He can be reached at [email protected]

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