“It appears Florida won’t be legalizing open carry, airport carry and campus carry — at least not this year,” sunshinestate.com reports. “A slew of gun bills proposed during this year’s legislative session, all sponsored by Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, have once again ended up in the legislative graveyard and none of them will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s final hearing Wednesday.” And there’s no doubt exactly who’s to blame . . .

Nearly all of the gun proposals were effectively killed off earlier this legislative session by Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, who took a stance against the measures by saying she wouldn’t support Steube’s gun bills. “Throughout my personal, professional, and legislative career I have expressed concerns with the reduction of traditional gun-free zones,” Flores told Sunshine State News in March. “This is not something new nor should it be a surprise to those who follow the legislative process.” Flores’ vote was critical to move the committee in the opposite direction away from Steube’s proposals — her “nay” vote would have been the swing with four Democrats to dash the freshman Sarasota senator’s legislative aspirations to the rocks.

As we reported when we named Ms. Flores TTAG’s Gun Zero of the Day, the Florida rep changed sides to pave the way for a run for Miami Mayor. No doubt gun owners in the Gunshine State will do whatever they can to thwart those ambitions, just as Flores has thwarted the aspirations of Americans seeking the restoration of their natural, civil and Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

And where was the NRA in all this? We report, you deride:

Despite setbacks, NRA past president and lobbyist Marion Hammer says she will continue lobbying hot and heavy for gun bills — and says not to count her or gun rights activists out just yet. “Years ago I saw a bill of ours passed at the last hour of session,” she told Sunshine State News on Monday. “With all the time we have left, why should I get upset that these bills aren’t on the agenda?” Questioned about the possibility of an unsuccessful run to pass pro-gun bills, Hammer shrugged off the possibility, saying some bills take longer than others to pass. Concealed carry, for example, took seven years in the state legislature before finally being made a law. “Anything can happen in the legislative process,” she said. “If it’s worth filing, it’s worth passing, if not now, then later. We do not quit. It ain’t over til it’s over.”

Yes well, it looks like it’s over for this year. Next time . . .