Adoption agencies can't require prospective parents to disclose whether they have a firearm, according to a new bill that rocketed Thursday out of the Legislature and awaits the governor's signature.
Gov. Charlie Crist plans to approve the legislation, along with another National Rifle Association-backed bill that would stop legislators from raiding a special trust fund that pays for concealed-weapons permit regulation. The bill could be passed by the Legislature as early as next week.
Both bills attest to the might of the NRA. But the group has won so many victories that even supporters say the gun lobby is now left with little nips and tucks to the right to own firearms.
"The NRA is running out of targets," said Evan Jenne, a Dania Beach Democrat in the House, where the adoption measure passed unanimously Thursday. "These bills really don't do anything. They're innocuous."
The adoption bill, for instance, fixes a problem that wasn't widespread and was the result of a mix-up at the Children's Home Society in Central Florida, officials said. The society, a nonprofit adoption agency under the Department of Children & Families, was using an outdated form that happened to ask potential parents about gun ownership, as well as pharmaceuticals and other personal questions.
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