TALLAHASSEE – With the signature of Governor Ron DeSantis, permitless concealed carry is set to become the law of the land in Florida. The measure will make it legal for individuals to carry concealed weapons without any mandatory license or training.
Florida is now the 26th state in the nation to enact similar legislation, which proponents call ‘constitutional carry’. The term refers to the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights which establishes the right to bear arms. The relationship between firearm licenses and permits with the Second Amendment has long been debated by constitutional scholars and gun enthusiasts alike.
The main opponents of the legislation have been gun control advocates, who point to the recent school shooting in Nashville as evidence for why permitless is a dangerous proposal. Florida has been home to some of the most notable mass shootings in American history, including the Parkland high school shooting in 2018 and Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016.
“Permitless carry is anarchy,” said David Hogg, a Parkland shooting survivor and gun control advocate in March. “It endangers our families and violates our freedom to not be shot by making it easier for criminals to obtain guns and use them.”
Governor Ron DeSantis sees it differently. “A constitutional right should not require a permission slip from the government,” he said before the bill passed. “It is time we joined 25 other states to enact constitutional carry in the state of Florida.”
There will still be some hurdles to gun ownership in Florida. Those wishing to purchase a firearm license will need to meet the same standards in place now, including no prior felony convictions and no controlled-substance convictions within three years.
Like other recent laws passed by the Republican-majority Florida legislature, permitless carry drew widespread protests outside the state capitol. They ultimately fell short of stopping the bill from being passed.
Landy
April 6, 2023 at 9:16 pm
Thank you Governor DeSantis. The right for every individual to protect themselves from gun carrying criminals is long over due. Criminals never respect any laws, so they have guns illegally, but up to now the average citizen had no way to ward off an attack on themselves or their family from a gun toting criminal. Gun control laws don’t work, Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, yet they have the highest crime rate with armed criminals than anywhere else in the nation. If these types of criminals are to be stopped we have to return to the death penalty for the crime of murder. Eliminate all the plea bargaining and sentence them to death. We have to get away from the liberal way of treating criminals And televise the executions so all of the wanna be criminals can see their fate unless they give up their life of crime.
PAM
April 6, 2023 at 10:36 pm
Criminals carry weapons regardless of laws. Law abiding citizens can now defend themselves and others against these lawless criminals.
TR
April 7, 2023 at 7:15 am
David Hogg is an idiot in what he said. “It endangers our families and violates our freedom to not be shot by making it easier for criminals to obtain guns and use them”. Criminals already get guns they use before this law was signed. They buy them on the street, they steal them or they do whatever they want to do to get a gun. They are criminals. This law didn’t change that one bit. David Hogg is a puppet for the party of the left and his strings are being pulled by Democrats that are making him look like a fool. He must be getting a lot of money for this to be happening. David apparently doesn’t know the law, because someone who follows the law will buy their gun of choice in a store and the store is required to do a back round check on that person before even handing over the gun. Criminals do not buy guns in a store.
On another note, It’s great that this law was sign and what I think this will do is level the playing field against criminals. The more law biding citizens there are that carry a gun. the better chances there is of preventing a crime. I hope that there are a lot of people out there that learn the law and train on the operation of gun ownership.
Cj
April 7, 2023 at 10:46 am
Absolutely correct, criminals have weapons, now they must consider the consequences of pulling a weapon.
It’s long overdue in my estimation!
Robert Joseph Fortier
April 9, 2023 at 11:07 am
I agree with most of the other commenters. My concern is that new gun owners actually get the adequate training required to safely protect themselves and others.
Guns are NOT toys, they’re tools.
I will add that I know many people who carry now that scare the crap out of me with their cowboy mentality.