Florida Supreme Court justices reviewed ballot language Tuesday for a proposed amendment that would ban the possession of assault weapons in Florida. During the oral arguments opponents, said the term “assault weapon” is too politicized and shouldn’t be allowed in the ballot language.
Kyle Casazza is the lawyer representing Team Enough, a youth-led group pushing for the ban. He says it’s not political rhetoric and won’t cause confusion about what the amendment would do, since the term is clearly defined in the summary
“We would submit that this proposed definition of assault weapon in the summary is more useful to the voter by employing objective criteria. The voter can discern of the text of the summary, a weapon is banned if semiautomatic, if it is a rifle or shotgun, and if its capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition,” Casazza said.
Justices are charged with evaluating whether the ballot language and summary for a proposed amendment would give an average voter an accurate understanding of what a measure would do. But, this time, no matter what the court decides the measure won’t be going on the ballot in 2020. Sponsors failed to collect enough signatures in time. They say they’ll now set their sights on 2022.
