Florida Representative Randy Fine threatens Biden if he tries to ‘take our guns’

Florida Representative Randy Fine has managed to get himself into national headlines over a pair of controversial social media posts. Critics of the Republican lawmaker say he was making a not-so-veiled threat at President Biden in his response to a Tuesday speech on the tragic shooting in Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed , in which Biden called for action on passing common sense gun laws.

On Wednesday morning Fine posted on Twitter, “I have news for the embarrassment that claims to be our President — try to take our guns and you’ll learn why the Second Amendment was written in the first place.” The tweet lit off a firestorm on the social media platform with thousands of replies, some accusing him of threatening the president and multiple people tagging the Secret Service.

Fine kicks the hornets’ nest again

The Floridian lawmaker has a history of making incendiary comments which get him headlines in his home state and maintain his renown for being a conservative firebrand who isn’t afraid to be politically incorrect. He denies he was seeking media attention with the comments.

This latest episode had reporters asking him if what he had posted was a threat as it was being interpreted by some, he didn’t think so. “No, I mean I’m not even talking about myself. There was no comment,” Fine said. “People need to understand the history of the Second Amendment.”

He later mocked the backlash in another tweet in which he wrote, “The reaction exposes the lie of the left that they just want ‘common sense gun control.’ They want one thing and one thing only — gun confiscation and an end to the 2A — and the notion that Americans will exercise their right to fight them makes them go crazy. Boo hoo.”

Fine misinterprets gun control with gun seizure

When asked by a reporter at the Florida State Captial about whether “these incendiary tweets maybe would it also embolden those who have mental problems?” He responded by saying that the President saying he was going to take people’s gun away was incendiary. When it was pointed out that President Biden never mentioned taking people’s guns away, he insisted he had, you can check for yourself, spoiler he didn’t.

He finished by saying “[Biden] turned his speech into a speech on gun control it was hugely inappropriate, hugely inappropriate to do that day.” Words that have been said time and again that it is too soon after a horrific slaughter of innocents at the hands of a gunman, which are happening with ever greater frequency, to have any debate on how to stop such tragedies.

Is gun violence an issue? “Absolutely it is”

Asked if gun violence was an issue in the nation and in Florida Fine said that “Absolutely it is.” He said that was why the Florida Legislature passed “Parkland”, in reference to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, four years prior. Part of that legislation closed the “Charleston Loophole” which allowed people to acquire a gun before a background check is complete, something that has been blocked at the federal level. Fine says that Florida acted to stop gun violence after 17 students were killed and another 17 were injured by a single gunman at the law’s namesake high school in Parkland.

However, in Florida a person can still by a gun without a background check from an unlicensed seller, one of the loopholes that 90 percent of Americans would like to see closed. Fine said he supports legislation for “Constitutional Carry” which would allow people to carry a gun without a permit. He backs the bill because Florida has background checks.