In purported revenge for the Tampa Bay Rays’ support for gun control, Florida Governor Rick Scott blocked plans for a $35 million sports center to be used at times by the team.
Ron DeSantis, a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, vetoed $3.1 billion from the state budget on Thursday.
He didn’t go into each item line by line, but conservative commentator Clay Travis’ sports website Outkick said that DeSantis was out to penalize the baseball team.
The office of DeSantis has yet to respond.
The team had hoped to hold spring training at a proposed new sports center in Odessa, Florida.
They urged their followers to donate to Everytown for Gun Safety on May 26, two days after the Uvalde school shooting.
‘In schools, grocery stores, places of worship, our neighborhoods, houses, and America, we all deserve to be secure,’ they said in a statement.
‘The recent horrific shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde have left us in a state of shock. The Tampa Bay Rays are deeply saddened by these senseless tragedies that have claimed the lives of children and adults.
‘This can’t go back to normal.’ We can’t become deafeningly deafeningly deafen We can’t turn a blind eye. Nothing changes if nothing changes, as we all know.’
‘Rather than our typical game coverage on social media tonight, we’ve teamed up with Everytown to raise awareness about gun violence in America,’ they added.
DeSantis has made no mention of the incident in Uvalde.
He has previously expressed support for ‘constitutional carry,’ which would allow people to carry guns without the need for a concealed weapons permit.
The move comes after DeSantis chastised Disney earlier this year after the business spoke out against his ‘Don’t Say Gay’ policy, which prohibits homosexuality from being discussed in classrooms for certain grades.
In April, DeSantis revoked Disney’s special tax and self-governing privileges.