FORT WALTON BEACH — Candidates for Florida's first congressional district and the Okaloosa County School Board had the chance to share their platforms Saturday at a forum hosted by the Okaloosa County Branch NAACP at Striving for Perfection Ministries.
Dr. Jennifer Zimmerman and Phil Ehr, both Democrats, were the two of the five congressional candidates to attend the forum.
All seven School Board candidates running for seats in three districts were on hand.
The candidates answered questions compiled by the public and the NAACP's president Saturday morning.
Here are a few questions and answers from the forum. Candidates’ responses have been condensed.
Florida District 1 congressional seat
Dr. Jennifer Zimmerman and Phil Ehr
Q: What are you going to do about (gun control) and what specific measures will you propose and support?
Zimmerman: As a pediatrician, I've never heard yet, anyone discuss this from the point of view of a public health issue. If this was a disease, we would all be clamoring for a cure and a treatment program. We are letting the other side control the rhetoric where it is only about the rights of a certain group of people. I believe that everyone must adhere to the Second Amendment rights if you believe in it and we have laws to protect that ... we want to protect those that are actually law-abiding citizens by making sure that universal background checks are implemented equally ... I am for declaring it a public health issue and I will make sure funding is directed back to where it should be so we can come up with the proposals.
Ehr: I am also not taking any NRA money ... so why? Why am I not taking any NRA money? Because they've lost their way. They've lost their way from
