The unamended bill then passed 29-10. The instructive part was how the NRA disciplined its puppets to oppose even such a mild amendment. In the Senate, Burt Saunders of Naples was the only Republican to support it. On passage of the bill in the House, only four Republicans voted no. To his credit, they included Larry Crow of Palm Harbor.
Citizens are free to draw their own conclusions.
None of the 29 opponents to the bill had been so favored but six, including Lars Hafner, D-St. Petersburg, had seen NRA money flow to their opponents. Six of them, including Jack Latvala, Palm Harbor, voted against the licensing standards amendment. Missouri, whose constitutional ban on concealed weapons dates to the Jesse James era, split along urban and rural lines in Tuesday's popular vote. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, nearly every rural county supported the gun permit proposition.