(FreedomBeacon.com)- Charlie Crist, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Florida, has stated that if elected, he will ban assault weapons by executive order on his first day in office.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Crist backed up his previous statements by writing, “Yes, I will.” Sort of Crist’s version of “Yes, we can.”
He wrote what he characterized as a (“Not so) gentle reminder.” He said Ron DeSantis vowed to pass a deadly permitless open carry law identical to Texas’. Crist noted that If elected, he promises to prohibit the sale of assault weapons in Florida.
Crist ended his tweet by asking for an oddly specific $7 donation to help him “beat DeSantis.”
Not only has Crist vowed to ban the sale of assault weapons, but he has also advocated for expanded background checks for new gun owners.
In another Twitter post on Monday, Crist said that reasonable steps to prevent gun violence include expanding background checks, denying firearms to domestic abusers, restricting high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, and funding locally driven violence prevention strategies.
However, if Crist attempts to prohibit the sale of assault weapons by executive order, he may face opposition.
According to Ed Morrissey, Article 4 deprives the governor of legislative authority. An executive order prohibiting the sale of firearms that are otherwise legal under Florida and federal law would be ineffective and unenforceable. And Crist is well aware of it,
The move would undoubtedly result in legal challenges from Second Amendment supporters who see the executive order as a violation of Floridians’ constitutional rights.
This may be a non-issue because current polling in Florida suggests that the push for a day one executive order isn’t gaining traction. In polling conducted by RealClearPolitics, DeSantis leads Crist by 8.8% in head-to-head competition.
In a February poll, 55 percent of respondents said they would vote for DeSantis, 34 percent said they would vote for Crist, and 11 percent said they didn’t know or refused to vote.
According to Dr. Michael Binder, the faculty director of the Public Opinion Research Lab and a professor of political science, voter enthusiasm could support a higher voter turnout, which would be beneficial to DeSantis.
Binder said that overall enthusiasm for the upcoming governor’s race is up. When broken down by party registration, 65 percent of registered Republicans are more enthusiastic than in the last election than just 49 percent of Democrats. This suggests that Republicans are on the verge of gaining a more considerable turnout advantage.
The primary for the state will be held on August 23.
