'Guns on campus' supporters accused of intimidation tactics

'Guns on campus' supporters accused of intimidation tactics

"Florida State University employees who spoke against "guns on campus" legislation this week have received public record requests asking them if were on the clock during that time.
Meanwhile, the NRA is encouraging its members to reach out to Gov. Rick Scott, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner to complain about campus police chiefs who also attended the committee meeting to speak against the bill.
The memo from Marion Hammer, the NRA lobbyist in Florida, takes issue with FSU Police Chief David Perry. As the head of the statewide association for university police chiefs, he corralled his colleagues to attend the Senate Higher Education Committee meeting Monday after being invited by Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa.
"Chief Perry then put out the call to come to Tallahassee and ten (10) showed up to lobby against your constitutional rights," Hammer wrote. "Chief Perry subsequently informed them that they DID NOT have to take leave (vacation days) to participate.  Consequently they were in Tallahassee while on the payroll, instead of on campus providing security for students. ... You, the taxpayers, are picking up the financial tab for these Chiefs to lobby against your constitutional rights – rights they are sworn to protect."
Hammer's memo noted that a similar request for the chiefs' attendance was also made later in the week that resulted in several attending a House committee meeting Wednesday. Since the March 19 memo was posted, Crisafulli’s office said he has received about 800 emails with the subject line Hammer suggested: "STOP USE OF TAXES - STATE FUNDS - FOR LOBBYING."
Hammer tells the Times-Union the police chiefs should have stopped short of saying they were against Senate Bill 176 and instead stuck to their professional opinion about the effect of the legislation on universities.
"They can discuss their perception of the impact it would have on their agency but when they take a position for or against a bill, they are attempting to influence the votes of legislators and that is lobbying," she said.
Andy Pelosi, president of GunFreeKids.org and The Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus, sees it a different way. He brought the memo to the attention of the media, saying it demonstrates the hypocrisy of the NRA.
“I think what they’re trying to do is silence law enforcement," Pelosi said. "They obviously were upset that nearly all the chiefs from the public colleges in Florida showed up to testify against this measure and Marion Hammer tried to bully them.”
Pelosi said the NRA has stood silent when police chiefs and sheriffs testified in favor of bills the gun rights lobby supports.
“I think it’s ludicrous that she is complaining about this," he said of Hammer.
Violations of the state’s lobbying rules can be reported to the Florida Commission on Ethics. The Attorney General’s Office has issued opinions that said state colleges cannot use state funding or resources for lobbying, but a different opinion gives the okay to teachers traveling to Tallahassee to advocate on behalf of legislation.
Hammer said she had nothing to do with the public records request that members of FSU faculty who attended Monday’s committee meeting received. It is four pages long and asked them to account for any expenses occurred or salary accrued during their time traveling to and from the hearing or during their time there. The documents were requested by Scott Barrish, a former Republican candidate for Hillsborough County clerk of courts.
“The university is responding to the requests collectively,” FSU spokesman Dennis Schnittker said via email Friday. “We have no evidence of any impropriety.”
FSU faculty union president Jennifer Proffitt said the record request appears to be an attempt to intimidate faculty who oppose guns in their classrooms.
“Faculty do not clock in and clock out--we work at all times and hours of the day, seven days a week--and as citizens of the state of Florida, we have a right to speak to our Legislature about proposed legislation that will directly affect our teaching and our students,” she said via email. “We don't cease being citizens with free speech rights simply because we chose to go into public service.”