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GOP's young guns take aim

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By TOM JACKSON

tjackson@tampatrib.com

Published: May 15, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - It is not well-established, if it is established at all, that the road to higher office leads through one of the concealed-carry licensing classes conducted in Pasco County. But in the modern world of Balkanized and narrowly divided electorates, political suicide lurks in every failure to control known variables.

This may not completely explain the arrival of two familiar lawmakers at Bill Bunting's Beacon Woods front door Monday afternoon, or that they wound up a couple of hours later shoulder to shoulder at Jeff Griffin's Fair Haven Farm shooting range under Bunting's hawk-sharp gaze. The pair - U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam and state Rep. Will Weatherford - are not exactly strangers to firearms, after all.

"I grew up around 'em," Putnam shrugs in a drawl earned growing up in Bartow.

Nonetheless, possession of a license to carry, undisclosed, certain state-sanctioned weaponry affords the holder an additional perk, one not insignificant to politicians keen on burnishing their credentials as conservatives and constitutionalists.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Man meets moment

Some may recall former U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris taking the same course during her campaign to unseat Sen. Bill Nelson in 2006. In a bad year for Republican candidates nationwide, Harris made an especially ineffective challenger. But it wasn't for lack of compelling credentials in the area of gun-ownership advocacy.

Besides, young guns Putnam, 34, ever the fresh face of politics even as he amassed influence in the House GOP leadership, and Weatherford, 29, the presumptive state House speaker after the 2012 elections, figure to be more formidable than Harris, who was lampooned and caricatured beyond recognition for her awkward role in the 2000 presidential election recount fiasco.

Said a beaming Bunting, "I'm just proud to be here. This one," nodding to Weatherford, "is going to be writing firearms legislation, and this one," hooking a thumb toward Putnam, a candidate for state agriculture commissioner, "will be issuing the permits."

This was later, after they'd tucked exhausted handguns into wool-lined valises, examined targets - instructively, Putnam trained his sights on the lower left - and dutifully swept up shell casings, then retreated to refreshments on Griffin's breeze-swept Key West-inspired gazebo. Resembling nothing so much as a blend of Tom Sawyer and JFK, Putnam tilted back in a slat-backed rocking chair to address, officially, why the man and the moment had met.

"I've been a shooter all my life," he said. "I've thought about getting a concealed permit a long time. I certainly think this is appropriate; if you're going to oversee the office that issues the licenses, you should go through the course you're going to oversee.

"That made it timely."

Second Amendment exercised

Fresh from the conclusion of the legislative session, Weatherford, who'd been talking up taking the course for some time, saw an opportunity. "I'm here for the ride," he said. "I endorsed Adam for agriculture commissioner, and I wanted to get on the bandwagon."

Vote early; vote often.

Neither can be blamed for wanting to establish their Second Amendment bona fides. Not when there's a backlog of 91,000 applications for concealed-carry permits piled up for clearance at the agriculture department; when gun show shoppers wait in line a half-hour to fill out background information forms; when the price of handguns has jumped more than gold; and when gun shop owners routinely complain of ammunition depletion.

There's something happening here. What it is, well, it's clear enough to Putnam.

"The surge of purchases is in an atmosphere of avenues permitting legal purchase of firearms being closed off to people," he says. "It's also not unusual that people seek ways to protect themselves and their families in times of economic duress."

But are those rational responses to our current predicament?

Says Putnam, "Based on the attorney general's comments" - Eric Holder endorses curbs, at least, on classes of weapons currently legal - "I'd say yes."

As of Monday, Putnam and Weatherford are a step closer to having established themselves as members of the founders' "well regulated Militia," fellows who in word and deed can point to their resumes as proof that they do not hold with Holder's opinions.

To reiterate, the political importance of matriculating through the Bill Bunting Concealed Carry Experience remains undetermined. But, looking back, Harris' campaign handlers, who forbade news photographers from capturing her image, with pistol, for publication may have been a critical error.

As is evident here, Putnam and Weatherford were not going down that road.

On the other hand, Putnam readily acknowledges Bunting as one of those rare go-to guys. "Anybody thinking of running for statewide office should and does stop by to see Bill Bunting. The concealed weapons course merely follows."

Ah, the natural course of events. Who are we to think any different?

"The Jax Files Weekend" with Tom Jackson debuts at 11 a.m. Saturday on radio station WGUL, 860 AM. Keyword: The Jax Files, for Tom Jackson's bonus insights.

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