Gov. Ron DeSantis has made no qualms about his beliefs: Floridians should have the right to carry firearms in public. He’s also lobbied to lower the age to purchase rifles from 21 to 18 and created a firearms sales tax holiday to ease costs for gunslingers.
After a back-and-forth battle between the Republican governor and the Republican-led legislature, Florida will now allow open carry.
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On Sept. 10, the state’s First District Court of Appeal struck down the longtime ban on open carry in the McDaniels v. State case. Stanley McDaniels challenged the Florida statute, which does not allow open carry, saying it violates his Second Amendment right. The trial court dismissed his case. Then, the court of appeal reversed the decision.
A spokesperson for DeSantis, Molly Best, referred SAN to the governor’s tweet when asked for comment.
“This decision aligns state policy with my long-held position and with the vast majority of states throughout the union,” DeSantis wrote on Sept. 10.
In the U.S., 46 states allow for open carry in some form, according to U.S. Conceal and Carry.
“Ultimately the court correctly ruled that the text of the Second Amendment — ‘to keep and bear arms’ — says what it means and means what it says,” DeSantis continued.
Republican pushback
Though the state appeals court tossed the state’s almost 40-year open carry ban, the ruling is not without contention.
DeSantis’ appointee, state Attorney General James Uthmeier, declared open carry as the “law of the state” and deployed a guidance memo on Monday to Florida’s law enforcement and prosecutors telling them that this ban removal is now in statewide effect. However, some local law enforcement officials are waiting for the appeal window to close before they start changing law enforcement.
Certain Republican leaders are pushing back. Critics, such as Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Senate President Ben Albritton, and Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Daniel Perez, cite such concerns as public safety, Florida’s public image, harming tourism and inviting other traumatic public shootings like at a Parkland school and Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
A public information officer from Sheriff Gualtieri’s office, Amanda Sinni, directed Straight Arrow News to the Facebook page for the sheriff’s statement. His statement emphasized two points.
The first said the ban removal would not go into effect until ten days after the ruling, which is Sept. 25, meaning it’s still illegal to open carry until at least that date. Second, he said that this decision from the First District Court of Appeals may not apply to Pinellas County, as this county lives under the jurisdiction of the Second District Court of Appeals and the Florida Supreme Court.
“There is a previous decision by the Florida Supreme Court holding the statute prohibiting open carry of guns is constitutional,” Gualtieri wrote. “As a matter of well-established law, a lower court, especially one in another district, cannot overrule the law established by the Florida Supreme Court.”
The sheriff added that they are working with Uthmeier, the state’s attorney, and other officials to determine the scope of the ruling.
Perez and Albritton did not respond in a timely manner for comment.
Ongoing Debate
While open carry will be allowed in public spaces, there are guardrails in place. People cannot exercise their right to open carry in schools, public athletic events, courthouses and other places.
In the ongoing debate, DeSantis criticized Republican lawmakers for claiming they’re pro-gun rights but then attempting to block open carry.
“Thirty-eight states have open carry,” DeSantis said. “It’s not something that’s controversial. The sky hasn’t fallen on any of those … why not pass that out of the Florida House of Representatives and I’ve said for years this is something I would sign. It doesn’t seem to get off the ground, even with all of those Republicans all running saying they’re Second Amendment … then get up to Tallahassee and not follow through so I think they should just follow through and I think they should do what they promised the voters they would do.”
Whether this will be the “law of the land” is still up for debate. At this stage, it appears that certain Republican officials may have yet to accept that.
