Visit Florida, get shot, ads around world say
By ROBERT TRIGAUX
Published October 3, 2005
Florida tourists warned that locals could shoot them
--The Scotsman, Sept. 30
Now that's an international headline that can chill the heart of the most bullish promoter of Florida tourism. But there it was, sprawled across Friday's issue of The Scotsman , a prominent newspaper in Scotland.
I'm not sure whether to laugh at the absurdity, cry at the reality or take the safety off my Smith & Wesson.
I'm kidding. I don't carry a Smith & Wesson. But close to 350,000 people in Florida hold concealed weapons permits.
The Scotsman headline is just a sample of what's showing up in papers and on TV overseas. "Testy tourists risk being shot" says News24 in South Africa. The stories tell how a campaign launched by a gun-control group warns potential Florida visitors about a new law that lets gun owners in the Sunshine State shoot anyone they believe threatens their safety. The law immunizes citizens who use deadly force in self-defense against criminal prosecution and civil liability.
A series of alarming advertisements were scheduled to start appearing in Sunday's travel sections in the Boston Globe , Detroit Free Press , Chicago Tribune and the Guardian in London, among others. The ads are the work of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The campaign is named for Jim Brady, who, many will recall, as press secretary to President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded during the 1981 assassination attempt on the president.
The ads will also appear next Sunday and again warn readers: "In Florida, avoid disputes. Use special caution in arguing with motorists on Florida roads."
Forget the Wild West. Welcome to the Wild Sunshine State. At least that's how the ads and some of the headlines describing the ads come across.
Tourists! They come and crowd our beaches and roads. They add to the long lines at theme parks and restaurants. They drive like - well - tourists. And then they come back and do it again next year.
Who needs them?
We do. For all the business banter about luring high-tech industry and the promise of Scripps Research Institute on the state's fledgling biotech business, tourism remains Florida's - and the Tampa Bay area's - economic bedrock.
Hotels and beach resorts, bars, convention centers, restaurants, airlines, more bars, rental cars, T-shirt shops, sunscreen sellers, Busch Gardens, parasail rides, ecotours and miniature golf joints (did I mention bars?) - they all rely on the kindness, but mostly the bucks, of strangers better known as tourists.
Gov. Jeb Bush in April signed the bill, blessed by the National Rifle Association, that became known as the "Stand Your Ground" law. The law takes a Floridian's right to use deadly force to defend his or her home and extends it to being inside a vehicle. The law also makes it easier legally for Floridians to stand their ground and use deadly force in cases of threats while out in public - even if a safe retreat was an option.
So what's got the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in such a lather? Today, the Brady bunch will press its point by distributing fliers about the "Shoot First Law" at Miami International Airport.
Here's what one of the group's newspaper ads says: "Warning: Florida residents can use deadly force." And the ad states: "Thinking about a Florida vacation? Please ensure your family is safe."
Bud Nocera, the executive director of Visit Florida, which promotes state tourism, scolded the Brady effort. As he told the Scotsman: "It is sad that such an organization would hold the 900,000 men and women who work in the Florida tourism industry, and whose lives depend on it, hostage to their political agenda."
Never mind the recurring Red Tide and new threat of gulf drilling to Florida's tourism future.
Perhaps tourism leaders are missing a clear and present marketing opportunity here. If we're going to live in a "shoot first, ask questions later" type of state, let's be proud of the fact.
Imagine, if you will, a new Florida tourism campaign that surely would appeal to the millions of international visitors clamoring for our sunshine, theme parks and shorelines.
Picture Clint Eastwood on a Pinellas County beach.
Picture that squint of Clint's in the bright sunshine.
Picture Clint looking right into the camera and asking every potential tourist to Florida: "Go ahead. Make my day. Come visit Florida."
Clint, where are you when we need you?
--Robert Trigaux can be reached at 727 893-8405 or trigaux@sptimes.com