Florida appeals court upholds law on local gun regulations
Jim Saunders, Reporter, News Service of Florida
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File photo (istock)
TALLAHASSEE – In a win for Republican lawmakers and the National Rifle Association, an appeals court Friday upheld a 2011 state law that threatens tough penalties if city and county officials approve gun-related regulations.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected a challenge to the NRA-backed law by 30 cities, three counties and more than 70 local officials. A Leon County circuit judge in 2019 found that parts of the law were unconstitutional, spurring Attorney General Ashley Moody and Gov. Ron DeSantis to appeal.
Conservation dispute should be heard in trial, judge says
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A gavel in a courtroom. (Pexels)
A Leon County circuit judge has said a trial is needed in part of a long-running lawsuit about how the Legislature carried out a 2014 constitutional amendment aimed at land and water conservation.
Environmental groups in October asked Circuit Judge Charles Dodson to grant summary judgment finding that some state budget items from 2015 and 2016 violated the constitutional amendment. Summary judgment would have short-circuited the need for a trial.
But Dodson issued a nine-page ruling last week that said under a summary-judgment rule, “plaintiffs’ evidence is probably insufficient to conclusively establish the unconstitutionality of the appropriations challenged in their motions.