While our electeds in Tallahassee mess up a perfectly starter gun control bill with their crazy school militia program and GOP House members repeatedly oppose amendments to close the gun show loophole, Democrat candidates in this year’s state elections are taking it straight to the source — urging the Miami-Dade Youth Fair and Expo to cancel two upcoming gun shows in May and July.
And the city commission in South Miami on Tuesday night unanimously passed a measure, sponsored by Commissioner Josh Liebman, demanding local governments prohibit gun shows on public property, which the fairgrounds is on.
Mayor Philip Stoddard told Ladra after the vote that the city would send the resolution to the Miami-Dade Fairgrounds “since the county contract with them ceded control of the events.”
Related: Lawmakers vote to leave assault rifles on the street and arm teachers instead
In a Feb. 23 letter to the board members and executives of the Miami-Dade Youth and Exposition — the hosts of a gun show the very weekend after the Parkland tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High —  five Democrat state House candidates and a state senate candidate pressed board members to cancel two upcoming gun shows in coming months.
“The tragic events of February 14th resulting in the death of 17 students and teachers in neighboring Broward County have shaken our community. Here in Miami-Dade, a gun show took place at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition grounds (the “Fairgrounds”) the following weekend.
Gun shows are well-known as places where people can buy a weapon of any caliber from private sellers, who are neither federally licensed, nor do they run background checks on buyers. The sale of such weapons without required screening is notoriously referred to as ‘gun show loophole’.
According to a 2017 study, 22 percent of gun owners obtained their weapons without submitting to a background check. That equates to millions of guns sold to individuals who could have a violent past or be mentally ill. Many of these purchases likely occurred at gun shows, easily accessible marketplaces for people who don’t want to be subject to a background check to find non-licensed gun dealers.
The Fairgrounds are presently scheduled to host two other gun shows in May and July. The undersigned write to you to request that your organization follow of communities like Broward County by agreeing to cancel future gun shows in light of the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
While there are many issues of contention when it comes to gun reform, there is a growing consensus about requiring comprehensive background checks to keep weapons out of the hands of citizens that suffer from mental health issues or are known to be violent. Your organization is dedicated to enriching our community by promoting education – hosting gun shows is directly inapposite of this mission.
The cancellation of the scheduled shows and a future prohibition on such events at the Fairgrounds is but a small gesture, compared to the disgrace and insult to the victims of shootings and their families if they were allowed continue. If we know that just one individual can use such shows to bypass a background check in order to arm their ill intent against our children, we cannot in good conscience continue to host these gun shows at the Fairgrounds.
We call on you, the board members and executives of the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition, Inc., to do what is right by cancelling the scheduled gun shows and prohibiting all future gun shows on the Fairgrounds.”
The letter was signed “Respectfully,” by Javier Fernández, who is running in House District 114 in Coral Gables, Jason Pizzo, who is running for Senate in District 38, Cedric McMinn, running in House District 109 in Miami and Opa-Locka, Kubs Lalchandani, running in House District 113 in Miami Beach and Little Havana, Jeffrey “Doc” Solomon, running in House District 115 in Pinecrest and Dotie Joseph, running in House District 108 in Miami and Miami Shores.
But only Fernández and Solomon are likely to face Republicans. The others are running in traditionally blue districts against Democrat incumbents or, in the case of Lalchandani, in an open seat vacated by a Democrat and against another Democrat, former Miami Beach Commissioner Deede Weithorn (more on that later).
Fernández is the first up with a special election May 1. And, yeah, this issue is going to hurt Andrew Vargas, who won the Republican primary last month. Vargas is law partners and the political protege of State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, who ushered this school militia program quite quickly in the appropriations committee. This photograph, while a corporate pic, likely is a good characterization about their feelings with the progress that this crazy guns in schools law has made.
Related: GOP voters in House 114 slam dunk Jose Pazos and pick Andrew Vargas
Ladra was undecided on this race because, let’s face it, the Dems didn’t make the best choice, again. A lobbyist against an insurance industry attorney who is also Trujillo’s proxy? After they’ve slammed Republican lobbyists in previous campaigns? Ugh. But we need Democrats in Tallahassee next year to undo the damage and pass reasonable bans on weapons that were built and are meant for war. So, yeah, Javi, a little begrudgingly, Ladra is yours. At least in May. We’ll see in November. I still like Ross Hancock, who didn’t want to spent his energy on a special election where the Dems had already picked another guy.
But Fernández is right on this issue and right on time. On Tuesday, he went to South Miami City Hall to support Liebman’s item.
“It’s an issue that’s been missing from the state efforts to address gun reform,” Fernández told Ladra afterwards.
“There seems to be a consensus that everybody needs background screening,” he said, adding that 31 gun shows in the next 60 days were happening on state and county fairgrounds in Florida. “I just find it inconsistent with the directed mission of these organizations, which is to advance educational development.”
Fernández was a policy advisor to former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz who stopped the practice of hosting gun shows at the Coconut Grove Convention Center when he became involved in the Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization in 2009 — which, by the way, does not list Miami as a member today on its website (ahem, Mayor Francis Suarez).
Let’s hope Fernández is as good a lobbyist as everybody thinks he is when he speaks before the Fairgrounds board about this on Monday. That board includes Miami-Dade School Board Member Maria Teresa “Maritere” Rojas, who is also up for re-election, so let’s watch what she does and says very closely.
It does seem somewhat incongruous that the location for our annual and beloved Youth Fair, which is already being advertised this year, would also be the home of traveling firearm festivals. And while Ladra has not supported Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s efforts to usurp the Youth Fair lease for Florida International University’s expansion, it is taxpayer owned property.
Related: By putting guns in schools, Republicans send a clear message: Elect Democrats
The Youth Fair board would be wise to do the right thing if it wants the community’s support against Gimenez’s overtures, which can be resumed at any moment.
Gun shows across Florida are held on public land — at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Fort Myers or the Lee County Civic Center, for example. Future leases with these organizations that use public lands should state specifically that these properties cannot be used for gun shows.
At least not until we close the gun show loophole.
But, as we saw in Tallahassee on Tuesday, neither of those things are likely to happen until more Democrat candidates are elected.

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It was a slam dunk with the absentee ballots.
As soon as the mail-in votes were counted for the Republican primary in House District 114, Andrew Vargas — an insurance attorney who is the law partner of State Rep. Carlos Trujillo — was celebrating a victory with 76% of them. Jose Pazos, a Marine who runs a condo management firm, knew he lost. It ended up 75-25, but really, at this point, does it matter?
So there is nothing indicating any AB fraud in the Vargas campaign, run by Steve Marin and Alex Miranda (former chief of staff to Democrat Philip Levine when he was Miami Beach mayor). It looks like they just had a good strategy made possible by lots and lots of campaign cash — at least $190,000 as of Feb. 15, compared to Pazos $30k.
Read related story: Jose Pazos is best, familiar choice for House 114 special primary  today
It’s hard to say that money didn’t make the difference, since Vargas had quite a bit more promotion in the weeks leading up to the AB drop: at least six mailers, three phone banks and canvassers who swept the absentee voters in the district — twice. In comparison, Pazos had one mailer, one phone bank and canvassers maybe contacted AB voters once. Maybe.
One of the mailers which went to all AB voters for Vargas is this one with newly-minted Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who is popular in the District. So much so, they mailed it twice.
“Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is with Andrew Vargas,” said one side. “Andrew Vargas has, among his qualities, the integrity and leadership that the residents of District 114 deserve. I look forward to working with him to help our communities,” it quoted Suarez on the other side.
Home. Run.
If one really wanted to split hairs, one could say that Trujillo and Suarez won this election. Because if you asked Pepe Voter six weeks ago who Andrew Vargas was they might have guessed. “Un reggeatonero? El cura? Tu tio? El hijo del presidente de Paraguay?” He is relatively new and unknown in the district. In fact, Vargas was the GOP pick to succeed State Rep. Jeannette Nunez, who is termed out, in District 119 where he has roots, but switched to 114 as soon as Daisy Baez resigned for non residency and lying about it — some would say he had his bags packed before she signed on the dotted line and that Trujillo kept putting the pressure on Baez to resign (which was the right thing to do). Vargas still has to campaign, starting tomorrow probably, because this is just to fill Baez’ vacancy until November. So he just wanted the advantage of an incubency won during a  low turnout special election.
And, of course, he still has to beat Democrat lobbyist Javier Fernandez May 1.  That might prove more difficult than beating Pazos in a swing district that is turning bluer and in the Trump backlash timezone. And Ladra and some other political observers believe that Vargas may have a harder time against Fernandez than Pazos would have. He’s already been blamed for the attack ads that started against the Dem even before the primary was over.
Read related story: Limited early voting in House 114 GOP primary could be voter suppression
A series of emails and robocalls that Ladra has not seen or heard, but were reported in the Miami Herald, are made to look like they ame from Fernandez himself.  “My name is Javier Fernandez, but my friends call me Javi “Lobby.” I’m a lobbyist who’s represented casinos, out-of-state developers, professional sports franchises, and, yes, retail sex toy shops,” the email states.
It is distributed by a brand new political actiona committee, People for a Progressive Florida, but Hernandez has blamed Vargas… and c’mon! Pazos couldn’t even raise enough money for his own campaign!
Hernandez, who has demanded a debate to counter the claims, is likely to bring up the fact that Vargas is the second most litigious attorney in the state when it comes to “assignment of benefits” lawsuits against insurance companies, which legislators have said are increasingly fraudulent and which are arguably driving the cost of homeowner insurance up (more on that later).. Ladra can see the mailers now: “You pay more insurance because of this guy,” with an arrow pointing to Vargas. “He wants you to pay even more,” reads the other side.
Hey, he drew first blood.
There are about 34,000 Republicans registered in the District. Only 4,488 voters cast ballots in this race (overseas and provisional ballots still have to be counted but won’t make one iota of a difference).. Because Republicans aren’t that adamant about voting unless it’s against a Democrat. More will come out in May. But they will be joined by about as many Democrats and about as many Independents, who are likely going to be a deciding factor.
Which means only one thing for certain: Vargas is going to spend a lot more money.

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