A group of Miami-Dade mayors — some of them gun owners, all taking a politically risky stance — launched an effort this week to try to sidestep state firearms laws by forcing gun distributors and manufacturers to disclose training techniques and methods used to keep firearms out of the hands of indicted traffickers, reports the Miami Herald. The group pledged support to a nonprofit called Arms With Ethics, which is pushing for tougher gun restrictions in cities throughout Miami-Dade.
The initiative is bound to be a tough sell in Florida, a gun-rights-favoring state with a controversial Stand Your Ground law, and other laws that allow firearms in public parks and homeowners to build firing ranges in their backyards. The announcement sparked an immediate backlash from the gun lobby and Tallahassee lawmakers who advocate those laws. Only federal and state governments, they say, can set gun standards because of the Firearms Preemption Law. More than 40 states have preemption laws, which block municipalities from creating gun laws. Florida's is particularly severe.