As a ploy to boost fundraising, a Colorado-based pro-gun group used statements falsely attributed to State House Rep. Matt Gaetz regarding the controversy over Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law.
According to Lee Williams in the Gun Writer blog, a group called the National Association for Gun Rights is sending “nasty email attacks” targeting Gaetz as he is about to chair meetings to examine the state’s hotly contested self-defense laws.
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford asked the Fort Walton Beach Republican to oversee the House committee holding hearings in the fall on Stand Your Ground.
NAGR, led by gun activist Dudley Brown, claims Gaetz said he was “willing to let anti-gunners have their way.”
Nothing could be further from the truth, Gaetz said.
“I don’t support changing one damn comma of the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law,” he told the Tampa Bay Times last week. “It would be reactionary and dangerous to make Floridians less safe to pacify uninformed protesters.”
Earlier this month, Gaetz talked with the Tampa Tribune, saying he has the authority to accept or disallow a vote on any legislation filed with the committee, but won’t try to force revisions to SYG.
“If the members of the committee support changes,” Gaetz told reporters, “they will be proposed, but nobody can count on my vote.”
“Rep. Matt Gaetz is one of the strongest, most dedicated supporters of the Second Amendment, your right to keep and bear arms and your right of self-defense that we have ever had in the Florida Legislature,” said USF/NRA and Florida Carry, Inc. Executive Director Marion Hammer.
Hammer, a former present of the National Rifle Association, released a statement saying the claim by Brown and NAGR is absolutely false, and the email sent to Florida residents was just a fundraising gimmick.
“We are lucky to have Matt Gaetz in the Florida Legislature” Hammer added, “and you should drop him an email and tell him thank you for standing up for the Second Amendment, your right to keep and bear arms and your right of self-defense.”
Hammer urges citizens to contact Gaetz right away at [email protected].
