The former president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), Marion Hammer, has issued an email warning Floridians of an alleged mailing that imitates the “orange” alert postcard that the NRA is known to send out.
Hammer’s email was sent directly to the NRA and the United Sportsmen of Florida members alleging that the Colorado-based National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) sent out that mailing attacking pro-2nd Amendment Florida legislator, Rep. Chuck Brannan (R), for refusing to hear Rep. Anthony Sabatini’s (R) Constitutional Carry legislation during the current legislative session in Tallahassee, Florida.
In the email, Hammer called the mailing “an attack on Rep. Chuck Brannan (R) for not scheduling a hearing” on Rep. Sabatini’s bill in the House Criminal Justice Committee, adding that people were fooled and thought the orange postcard came from the NRA.
Hammer told The Floridian Sunday night that “people have been deceived.”
Hammer contends that the reason why Rep. Brannan’s committee did not hear the bill is that Rep. Sabatini “never requested to have the bill heard in committee and never secured a Senate companion bill.”
Hammer took a shot at Rep. Sabatini, stating that he knew that in order to get a bill passed, he needed to “get a companion bill” in the Senate filed, a practice she says is common in the Florida Legislature.
"If a bill sponsor is serious about passing a bill, the very first thing he should do is get a companion bill filed. This is standard practice and Rep. Anthony Sabatini knows it and has done it on bills he as filed and passed previously,” said Hammer, adding that Sabatini “did not bother to get a companion bill filed in the Senate.”
Rep. Brennan posted on his Facebook page a rebuke of NAGR’s “false claims,” thanking Hammer, the NRA, and the Unified Sportsmen of Florida, for “re-affirming our always solid “A” rating from the NRA on behalf of gun owners.”
Sabatini, who has been waging a one-man war against establishment Republicans in the Florida Legislature, was endorsed by NAGR just a couple of weeks back.
House Speaker Chris Sprowls, as well as a few other Republican legislators, Reps. Chris Latvala, Kaylee Tuck, and Chuck Clemons have had a bullseye painted on his back by Sabatini.
Sabatini has been calling Speaker Sprowls a “RINO” or Republican in Name Only, for not pushing any of his bills this legislative session, and even recently called him “trash.”
Arguably one of the most Conservative members of the Republican-led Florida Legislature, Sabatini also believes that there isn’t any Republican other than himself that has fought back against Florida Democrats in the state legislature.
Sabatini is currently running in a contested Republican primary race for the U.S. Congress in Florida’s 7th Congressional District.
Small business owner Erika Benfield, who is challenging Sabatini for Congress, called the mailer “misleading” and said that in her experience in government, “you must follow the guidelines in order for your bill to be heard by both State House and State Senate.”
“Republican candidates that sign an oath to protect 2A rights should be held accountable while in public office even worse, the ones that use misleading headlines to get votes as there was no roll call vote to call any individual out,” said Benfield. “As a gun owner myself, I believe a Constitutional Carry bill should be considered in a committee for discussion, as it is the right for Floridians to defend themselves.”
Cory Mills, who is also running in the contested Republican primary race in Florida’s 7th District, went further in criticizing Sabatini over Hammer’s email, accusing the firebrand legislator of either not really supporting “Constitutional Carry” or just being an “inept legislator.”
“As a small business owner and U.S. Army combat veteran who fought to defend and protect our constitutional rights, including the right to bear arms, I believe voters need to take pause and question Sabatini’s motives when it comes to gun rights,” stated Mills. "Either he doesn’t really care about “Constitutional Carry” or he is just an inept legislator that refuses to do the job that voters entrusted him to do every time he misses votes in the Florida House.”
The Floridian could not reach Sabatini for comment, or former Navy Seal Brady Duke, who is also running for the congressional left open when Rep. Stephanie Murphy decided to not seek re-election to the House of Representatives.
