Florida Action Now

[CJ Buck]

This is where all Florida residents have way more impact than us out of staters....


Florida Cutlery Association Legislative Alert:

The bill clarifying the Darynani decision (Ballistic Knife Definition) will be heard in the Criminal Justice Subcommittee tomorrow. If you want to see a copy of the bill, click on www.leg.state.fl.us and follow the prompts to the House, then type in 1227 and click "GO."

Please call or email or fax the members of the subcommittee. The contact information is at the end of this email. Talking points on the bill appear below. Your message should be "I'd like to ask the representative to support HB 1227 which is in the Criminal Justice Subcommittee tomorrow. The bill clarifies Florida Statutes 790.25 so that automatic knives are not considered self-propelled knives."

TALKING POINTS ON BILL:


PLEASE SUPPORT HB 1227 (EVERS & MAYFIELD)



Criminal Justice Subcommittee
March 20, 2003
2 PM
Morris Hall

This bill corrects a misinterpretation of Florida Statutes 790.225 by a District Court of Appeal case in South Florida. (Florida v Darynani 774 So.2nd 855). The statute was passed in 1985 in a bill sponsored by Representative Ros and Senator Kiser. The purpose of the bill was to prohibit the sale and possession of self-propelled knives known as "Serious Human Assassinations Weapons' (SHAW.) SHAWs were weapons where the blade separated from the handle and could project up to 35 feet. These devices should be prohibited.

The court case applied the prohibition to automatic knives, or switchblades. In automatic knives, the blade does not leave the handle. Senator Kiser has provided a letter which states his intention in passing the bill in 1985. The court's misguided interpretation has thrown into doubt the right to produce, sell, buy and own these automatics knives.

Firefighters, law enforcement, hunters, and collectors use automatic knives. It was never the intention of the legislature to prohibit these knives.

This bill clarifies that knives that have blades which separate from the handle are prohibited and that common automatic pocketknives that have blades which do not separate from the handle are not prohibited.

PLEASE SUPPORT HB 1227!

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE

Dick Kravitz (Chair)
R-19
Capitol Address: 204 HOB
402 South Monroe
Tallahassee 32399
850-488-1304
Capitol fax: none
kravitz.dick@myfloridahouse.com

Bruce Antone (Vice Chair)
D-39
Capitol Address: 1301 Capitol
402 South Monroe St.
Tallahassee 32399
850-488-0760
Capitol fax: none
antone.bruce@myfloridahouse.com

Sandra Adams
R-33
Capitol Address: 1101 Capitol
402 South Monroe
Tallahassee 32399
850-488-0468

Heather Fiorentino
R-46
Capitol Address: 400 HOB
402 South Monroe
Tallahassee 32399
850-488-5522
Capitol fax: none
fiorentino.heather@myfloridahouse.com

Rene Garcia
R-110
Capitol Address: 214 HOB
402 South Monroe
Tallahassee 32399
850-487-2197
Capitol fax: none
garcia.rene@myfloridahouse.com

Hugh Gibson
R-42
Capitol Address: 400 HOB
402 South Monroe
Tallahassee 32399
850-488-5991
Capitol fax: none
gibson.hugh@myfloridahouse.com

Matt Meadows
D-94
Capitol Address: 1003 Capitol
402 South Monroe
Tallahassee 32399
850-488-8234
Capitol fax: none
meadows.matt@myfloridahouse.com

 

[CJ Buck]

Hello Knife Industry:

I just spoke to Rick Watson, lobbyist for the Florida Cutlery Assn.

Yesterday, (Thursday 3/20) the House version of the bill clarifying the definition of ballistic knives (HB 1227) passed the Criminal Justice Subcommittee by a unanimous 6-0 vote.

There is another hearing scheduled next week. Rick will alert you ahead of time ... or I will.

If you sent an email to a committee member yesterday ... THANK YOU.

Rick tells me the committee members received several. And he also thought that he would like to get copies of those emails in the future. So if we ask you to do this again, we will make sure Rick's email address is included.

Sincerely,

David Kowalski
AKTI Communications Coordinator

 

[CJ Buck]

The Florida house bill (HB 1227) that clarifies the self-propelled knife statute in Florida (F.S. 790.225) goes to the floor on Thursday afternoon, April 10, 2003 for the first of its two votes. The bill will be discussed and final passage in the House of Representatives should be in two weeks.

The senate bill (SB 2256) should be heard in its last senate committee on Monday, April 14th. I will send an Alert targeting the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee as soon as the hearing notice is confirmed. When you receive the next Alert from me, pleased respond quickly.

Identical bills must pass both the Florida House and the Florida Senate. Both bills are well positioned for passage before the scheduled legislative adjournment on May 2nd. Thanks to everyone who has called and emailed legislators. I am pleased to report that Representative Cary Baker (R-Eustis) signed on as a cosponsor of the bill. Representative Baker is the only state representative in the country who has been called to active duty during Operation Freedom. He is now in the Middle East.

It will not be necessary to contact the legislators for tomorrow's action on the floor. Reproduced below is a Talk Sheet which will be delivered to the 120 members of the Florida House of Representatives today.

Rick

Richard Watson & Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10038
Tallahassee, FL 32302
(850) 222-0000
(850) 222-0095
rwatsn@aol.com



SPECIAL ORDER CALENDAR FOR APRIL 10, 2003






Please Support HB 1227 (Evers, Mayfield, Baker & Gannon)






Clarification of Self-propelled Knife Statute (F.S. 790.225)



In 1985, the Florida Legislature passed a bill banning a spring loaded self-propelled knife that was designed to shoot a knife blade for a distance of up to 35 feet.

In advertisements, the knife was called SHAW which stood for "Serious Human Assassination Weapon."

The definition in the legislation was very narrowly drafted to ONLY BAN that one knife. The legislature took care to prevent it from effecting any common knife or type of pocketknife. The sponsor of the bill in the Senate was Senator Kiser. A copy of the letter he has provided is attached which states his original intention
in passing the bill in 1985 was to prohibit "devices which propel knives much like a gun propels a bullet."

However, in 2000 a South Florida Court misinterpreted the law and issued an opinion that had the effect of EXPANDING the definition to encompass common auto opening pocketknives owned by millions of law abiding citizens.

This bill is intended to CLARIFY the law and put things back the way the legislature intended and ban only the knife known as SHAW, not common pocketknives owned by law-abiding citizens.

We'd appreciate your supporting this bill which clarifies the original intention of the legislature and corrects an erroneous court decision.




Please Support HB 1227

Florida Cutlery Association
Richard Watson, Legislative Counsel
PO Box 10038, Tallahassee, FL 32302
(850) 222-0000 (850) 222-0095 (FAX) RWatsn@aol.com