A Polk County School Board member believes AR-15s should be treated like cars.
Billy Townsend has asked Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd to help him call for an AR-15 registry.
“There are weapons of mass death in my community and my law enforcement doesn’t know where they all are,” said Townsend. “What I want is for Polk County and Florida to have the most responsible gun ownership culture in America.”
But customers at a local gun store disagree.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” said Chuck Edwards. “I think the government knows too much about us as it is. We’re entitled to our right to privacy.”
Six states—California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York—require mandatory registrations for handguns. In other states like Pennsylvania, you must go through a dealer who keeps records of the transaction in order to obtain a gun. Florida has no gun registration.
“Citizens in Florida are not going to stand for doing a gun registry,” Attorney Tony Dodds said. “We have a constitutional right to own firearms. So we’re talking about privacy issues that they would affect. People don’t need to know what I own or don’t own related to a firearm, it’s none of their business.”
Dodd said he also worries a registry would make gun owners a target for criminals and discrimination.
“I would have no problem with taking a test. I would have no problem with a license. I would have no problem with my law enforcement knowing that I bought it. In fact, I would demand that,” Townsend said.
At a recent safety meeting, Townsend asked Sheriff Grady Judd to help him advocate for changing the law, but the Sheriff declined to comment saying, “I am not here to talk politics.”
The sheriff also declined to comment for this story.
