Word: florida
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...peculiar timing of the barrage of Biden brickbats accidental? The Des Moines Register reported that an unidentified campaign had circulated an "attack video" linking Kinnock's and Biden's rhetoric. A reporter for a Florida legal newspaper, the Miami Review, was also tipped off last week about the law school plagiarism incident and alerted a sister publication, Washington's Legal Times. In trying to confirm the information, reporters for the paper talked to a variety of Washington political insiders, including an adviser to the Richard Gephardt campaign...
Stark and thousands of other Florida residents are taking advantage of a law passed in April that will allow any adult with no criminal record or history of drug or alcohol abuse to carry concealed weapons. State officials have already been flooded with 14,500 applications for concealed-weapons permits; they expect 150,000 Floridians to apply in the first year alone. The law, which takes effect Oct. 1, makes Florida one of the easiest states in the Union in which to acquire a gun; eleven other states have similar laws. Moreover, a loophole in the Florida law also enables...
...prospect of pistol-packing hordes at shopping malls, sporting events and even Disney World has inspired a movement to tighten the loophole before it takes effect. "We want to bring Florida into the 1990s, not the 1890s," says State Attorney General Robert Butterworth, who is spearheading the effort. He has asked Governor Bob Martinez to consider an amendment to the bill during a special legislative session this week. But the Governor has decided to keep the gun bill off the agenda, and it is unlikely legislators will vote to change their handiwork during the regular legislative session in November...
Even if the troublesome loophole is eventually closed, many Floridians still fear that a boom in weapons could spell disaster in their already gun- heavy state. A recent study estimated that 60% of Florida's households contain firearms. Florida also led the states in violent crime last year, with 1,037 homicides, robberies and aggravated assaults per 100,000 residents. Critics contend that more firearms will mean even more violence. Says State Representative Michael Friedman of Miami Beach: "The message we're sending out is, 'We can't protect you anymore, so go get yourself...
...Nevertheless, support for the controversial law is strong. Proponents of the bill point to states such as North Dakota and Vermont that have practically no gun restrictions and boast the lowest violent-crime rates in the U.S. Says Marion Hammer, executive director of the Unified Sportsmen of Florida: "People in this state are sick and tired of being victims of crime...