The following opinion, by member Ira J. Raab, was published in the ‘The Palm Beach Post’ on Feb. 24, 2024.
Palm Beach County government reports that tourism is one of the three major industries in the county, with 7.3 million visitors spending $4.6 billion and supporting 66,000 jobs. The Feb. 20 article by Jim Turner reported that Florida tourism is down and that domestic numbers had a decided drop late in 2023. However, the article did not report why tourism was down.
The answer was found in another article published on the same day by Kathleen Wong of USA Today, entitled “International travelers fear U.S. is unsafe.” She reports that international travelers complained to her about open politics toward gun possession, lax gun laws, homicides and mass shootings. Legislators in Florida are considering new laws to reduce the age to 18 for purchasing guns, reduce the days waiting for background checks, provide quicker returns of seized guns no longer needed as evidence, and allowing the purchase of guns by persons who had been adjudicated delinquents for acts that would have been felonies if they were adults. Add these proposed bills to the law that allows the carrying of guns without permits and you can see why international visitors fear coming here. Wake up, Tallahassee.
Ira J. Raab, West Palm Beach
