The National Rifle Association (NRA) in Florida, under the state leadership of long-time lobbyist Marion Hammer[1], has had a death grip on power in state politics for years, even decades. But after two of the most high-profile mass shootings in American history, the Orlando nightclub shooting[2] two years ago this week and the Parkland high school shooting[3] in February — which collectively led to the deaths of 66 people and injured another 70 — the political tide may be turning against America's biggest gun lobby.
In March the nearly unthinkable happened[4] when Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, signed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Florida legislature that actually bucked the NRA by passing a modest set of restrictions on gun sales in the state[5], including raising the minimum age on gun purchases to 21, banning bump stocks[6] and creating a three-day waiting period for gun buyers.
Even this small show of defiance from state Republicans appears to have infuriated the local Hammer-controlled NRA, which sent out a questionnaire to 2018 candidates in Florida[7] that had questions so aggressively worded that they went viral on Sunshine State social media and even got a comedy segment[8] on "The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper."
Two questions on the questionnaire strongly suggest that by supporting gun safety regulation, a candidate is opposed to God and religious freedom. One question notes that the "oath of office requires you to place a hand on the Bible and swear to support" the Constitution, which, the questionnaire clearly suggests, can only be supported correctly by adhering to the NRA's fundamentalist interpretation of the Second Amendment.
When the questionnaire asks whether a candidate will oppose a ban on guns in churches,
