Neighborood Buzz
A Blog for Independents and Democrats
Editor- Jerry Meyer
Two items for you - one a news story on gun legislation in the Phoenix and a book review.
An article from the Phoenix
In the wake of the mass shootings that took place earlier this month in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, two Florida Democrats from South Florida have filed legislation that would allow immediate family members to have the power to go before a judge to confiscate firearms from people they believe could post a significant danger.
Matching bills filed by Broward County Democrats Richard Stark in the House and Lori Berman in the Senate would allow a parent, legal guardian, spouse or sibling of a person believed to be a danger to himself or the community to go before a judge with what is known as a Risk Protection Order.
A similar measure proposed in the 2019 session died in committee.
Currently, if someone suspects a family member might pose a danger to themselves or the community, they must contact a law enforcement official, who can then petition the court to restrict that person’s access to guns. That measure was part of the sweeping Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act that was signed into law in the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting massacre last year.
In order for a risk protection order to be issued, law enforcement authorities must fill out a petition that includes information about how the person in question poses a risk to himself or others and a description of their access to firearms.
Stark’s new bill also says that a person petitioning for a risk protection order does not have to be represented by an attorney.
In the wake of the most recent mass shootings which killed 31 people, President Donald Trump came out in support of red flag laws and indicated he would get Republican support for such measures on the federal level. Currently, Florida and 16 states and the District of Columbia already have such laws on the books, according to CBS News.
Since Florida’s law went into effect, there have been more than 2,300 risk protection orders issued across the state, the Tampa Bay Times reported last week.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, told WTSP-10 News last week that he doesn’t see the need for such a law.
“People have the absolute ability today to get that in court and get that before a judge and that is call law enforcement,” he said.
Gualtieri says his office has executed almost 400 risk protections orders since the law went into effect last year.
And- a review of a just published book.
Evangelicals are losing the culture war. What if it’s their fault?
In 2016, writer and filmmaker Ben Howe found himself disillusioned with the religious movement he’d always called home. In the pursuit of electoral victory, many American evangelicals embraced moral relativism and toxic partisanship.Whatever happened to the Moral Majority, who headed to Washington in the ’80s to plant the flag of Christian values? Where were the Christian leaders that emerged from that movement and led the charge against Bill Clinton for his deception and unfaithfulness? Was all that a sham? Or have they just lost sight of why they wanted to win in the first place? From the 1980s scandals till today, evangelicals have often been caricatured as a congregation of judgmental and prudish rubes taken in by thundering pastors consumed with greed and lust for power. Did the critics have a point?
In The Immoral Majority, Howe—still a believer and still deeply conservative—analyzes and debunks the intellectual dishonesty and manipulative rhetoric which evangelical leaders use to convince Christians to toe the Republican Party line. He walks us through the history of the Christian Right, as well as the events of the last three decades which led to the current state of the conservative movement at large. As long as evangelicals prioritize power over persuasion, Howe argues, their pews will be empty and their national influence will dwindle. If evangelicals hope to avoid cultural irrelevance going forward, it will mean valuing the eternal over the ephemeral, humility over ego, and resisting the seduction of political power, no matter the cost. The Immoral Majority demonstrates how the Religious Right is choosing the profits of this world at the cost of its soul—and why it’s not too late to change course.
Matching bills filed by Broward County Democrats Richard Stark in the House and Lori Berman in the Senate would allow a parent, legal guardian, spouse or sibling of a person believed to be a danger to himself or the community to go before a judge with what is known as a Risk Protection Order.
A similar measure proposed in the 2019 session died in committee.
Currently, if someone suspects a family member might pose a danger to themselves or the community, they must contact a law enforcement official, who can then petition the court to restrict that person’s access to guns. That measure was part of the sweeping Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act that was signed into law in the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting massacre last year.
In order for a risk protection order to be issued, law enforcement authorities must fill out a petition that includes information about how the person in question poses a risk to himself or others and a description of their access to firearms.
Stark’s new bill also says that a person petitioning for a risk protection order does not have to be represented by an attorney.
In the wake of the most recent mass shootings which killed 31 people, President Donald Trump came out in support of red flag laws and indicated he would get Republican support for such measures on the federal level. Currently, Florida and 16 states and the District of Columbia already have such laws on the books, according to CBS News.
Since Florida’s law went into effect, there have been more than 2,300 risk protection orders issued across the state, the Tampa Bay Times reported last week.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, told WTSP-10 News last week that he doesn’t see the need for such a law.
“People have the absolute ability today to get that in court and get that before a judge and that is call law enforcement,” he said.
Gualtieri says his office has executed almost 400 risk protections orders since the law went into effect last year.
And- a review of a just published book.
Evangelicals are losing the culture war. What if it’s their fault?
In 2016, writer and filmmaker Ben Howe found himself disillusioned with the religious movement he’d always called home. In the pursuit of electoral victory, many American evangelicals embraced moral relativism and toxic partisanship.Whatever happened to the Moral Majority, who headed to Washington in the ’80s to plant the flag of Christian values? Where were the Christian leaders that emerged from that movement and led the charge against Bill Clinton for his deception and unfaithfulness? Was all that a sham? Or have they just lost sight of why they wanted to win in the first place? From the 1980s scandals till today, evangelicals have often been caricatured as a congregation of judgmental and prudish rubes taken in by thundering pastors consumed with greed and lust for power. Did the critics have a point?
In The Immoral Majority, Howe—still a believer and still deeply conservative—analyzes and debunks the intellectual dishonesty and manipulative rhetoric which evangelical leaders use to convince Christians to toe the Republican Party line. He walks us through the history of the Christian Right, as well as the events of the last three decades which led to the current state of the conservative movement at large. As long as evangelicals prioritize power over persuasion, Howe argues, their pews will be empty and their national influence will dwindle. If evangelicals hope to avoid cultural irrelevance going forward, it will mean valuing the eternal over the ephemeral, humility over ego, and resisting the seduction of political power, no matter the cost. The Immoral Majority demonstrates how the Religious Right is choosing the profits of this world at the cost of its soul—and why it’s not too late to change course.
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