Rick Hernandez Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and Jim Coats of Pinellas County disgraces to the badge

Here is video explaining how some Sheriffs in Florida intend to infringe upon the rights of law abiding citizens in the State of Florida, if Florida becomes an open carry State. Rick Hernandez, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and Jim Coats of Pinellas County are disgraces to the badge for making statements like this. Hernandez states that anyone open carrying will be stopped. “When someone is walking down the street with an exposed gun, nobody knows if they’re legal or not legal. Do they have a permit? Maybe they do maybe they don’t.” No mention of probable cause. There are millions of people driving in Florida every day no one knows if they are legal or legal.  Do they have a license?  Maybe they do, maybe they don’t.  Imagine if you could be stopped in your car just to verify your license? Sounds like a police state.

Jim Coats goes so far as to say “rights need to be granted in a responsible way.” Sheriff Coats, I think you have the United States confused with a Fascist country, perhaps Hitler’s Germany. In the United States, rights are not granted to the people.  Rights are retained by the people.  Privileges are granted, rights are not. Hernandez ends with “If we think that people carrying guns openly makes you safer, I think that is a bad assumption.”  If we are operating on assumptions, I think Sheriffs like these two individuals carrying guns openly makes the entire State of Florida less safe.

Sheriff Rick Hernandez says it will be “very, very cumbersome, and very, very scary” if Florida becomes open carry. “Very cumbersome”? Sorry, Sheriff, if doing your job is “cumbersome” perhaps you should find a different profession? We wouldn’t want to have our rights make your job more difficult now would we. He goes on to state that “our stress level is very high at this point.” Well excuse the public for making you do your job. You don’t like the stress level? Pick another profession.

I do not know who is hiring these Sheriffs and police officers in Florida, but the quality and caliber of the men involved is so low as to be disappointing to anyone in the State.

Remember: when seconds count, the police are just minutes away.  Exercise your rights or lose them.