Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a gubernatorial candidate seeking to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), denounced his Democratic rival David Jolly for supporting sweeping gun control measures.
Over the weekend, Jolly detailed the bones of his campaign for Florida governor during a series of interviews that elaborated on his stance on guns. Policies espoused by the Democratic candidate include requiring liability insurance for firearm owners, banning assault weapons, and mandating universal background checks on every gun transaction — even those from “father to son, grandfather to grandchild.”
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Donalds, the only Republican in the race so far ahead of the 2026 elections, targeted Jolly over his positions in comments to the Washington Examiner that positioned the congressman as a candidate who will protect Second Amendment rights in his red state.
“David Jolly is just another gun-grabbing radical leftist,” Ryan Smith, chief strategist for the Byron Donalds Campaign, said in a statement.
“He wants to impose the most sweeping gun control in Florida’s history. Byron Donalds is a fearless advocate for the Second Amendment. He is 100% pro-gun and will uphold and defend Floridians’ constitutional right to bear arms,” Smith continued.
The comments from the Donalds campaign come in response to interviews Jolly conducted over the weekend, in which he articulated his stance on gun control, saying he was “actually for broader background checks than most Democrats.”
“I’m for an assault weapons ban, I’m for licensing, registration, and insuring,” Jolly told the Orlando Sentinel. “Access, largely unlimited, unrestricted access to firearms, is the problem. … When Republicans suggest that guns aren’t the problem, people are the problem, they’re lying to you.”
Florida implemented new gun control laws after the Parkland school shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, and left 17 people dead and another 17 injured.
But Jolly said those measures don’t go far enough and has attacked DeSantis and Donalds for supporting efforts to roll back some regulations.
“Look in Florida, Byron Donalds … is also way wrong on guns,” he said during a recent interview with the Hopium Chronicles. “You know, Florida actually passed a post-Parkland package that included red flag laws, raising the age of purchase of some firearms from 18 to 21. Donald wants to roll all that back. Byron Donalds is against the Parkland Republican-led gun violence prevention package.”
Florida’s existing background checks “are neither comprehensive nor universal. There are carveouts all through them. It basically is a check on criminal convictions,” the Democratic gubernatorial candidate added. The regulations should be amended to include “law enforcement activity around the individual that was never prosecuted, and no charges were brought.”
In another interview with the Pensacola News Journal, Jolly rejected the label of moderate or centrist, explaining that he views himself as a pluralist attempting to build a new coalition of voters to expand the Democratic Party’s influence in Florida.
“I need to be able to go to gun owners and say, ‘Look, I know gun owners aren’t the problem, but if we strengthen our gun laws, we’ll save your kids, just like we’ll save ours,’” Jolly said. “I’m for lower corporate taxes, but more gun violence prevention. That makes me to the right on one issue and to the left on another. We could go down the list, and you’re going to find me all over the left-right spectrum. I am in a post-ideological space. This is about bold solutions to big problems.”
The Democrat, once a Republican member of Congress, said he’s seeking to be intentional in talking to gun owners across the state about firearms regulations instead of dismissing them as impossible votes, as Democrats have traditionally done.
“Gun owners are not the problem. Our gun laws are,” he said. “And we need to further strengthen our gun violence prevention laws. And if we do that, we will protect the children of gun owners just as we protect the children of non-gun owners.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Jolly campaign for comment.