| DATE: | December 10, 2020 |
| TO: | USF & NRA Members and Friends |
| FROM: | Marion P. Hammer |
| USF Executive Director | |
| NRA Past President |
On December 3, 2020, attorneys representing NRA filed a Motion to exclude the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) from relying on a "mouse brain" expert to testify that 18-20 year old adults in Florida are not mature enough to buy guns.
FDLE's so-called expert, Dr. Pradeep G. Bhide, was a veterinarian in India, then studied brain science in Scotland before coming to the United States. Now, based on studies he did on "mouse brains," Dr. Bhide is trying to act as expert on young adults in Florida and claim young adults should not be allowed to purchase guns.
However, despite his claims, Bhide has not offered any hard evidence that young adults age 18 to 20 are more likely to commit criminal violence with a purchased firearm than other adults. Dr. Bhide's opinions on young brains are extrapolated from emerging research of others in the very specialized and controversial area of adolescent brain development where Dr. Bhide himself admits that he has conducted no research, authored no articles, and given no presentations himself on human adolescent and adult brains.
Even Dr. Bhide has admitted and confirmed that “you cannot pinpoint the age of brain maturity” in humans, yet he claims to be able to testify as an expert on 18-20 year olds who would purchase of firearms. This would be laughable if it were not so ridiculous.
The legislature never considered any evidence to support the ban, much less the pseudoscientific opinion offered by Dr. Bhide. Rather, it merely reacted out of emotion to the Parkland tragedy.
Florida Republican legislators acquiesced and allowed themselves to be stampeded by Sen. Bill Galvano who received over $500,000 from Michael Bloomberg's EveryTown. It was about money, power and political favors and had nothing to do with science of any kind.
Our fight is about protecting the Constitutional rights and freedoms of law-abiding adults in America, whether they are young adults or elderly adults.
Link to the Motion NRA filed:
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