Phil Reboli
Florida isn't typically the state we think of when we think gun control, but thanks to their unconstitutional ban on open carry, we're taking this traditionally pro-gun state to court. I'm Phil and you're watching Law and Ammo,
Phil Reboli
But before we get into the video, let me take a second to tell you about Goa's first annual convention goals. The Gun Owners Advocacy and Leadership Summit will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee on August 17th through 18th. Come out and see your favorite companies influencers and voices for the Second Amendment. There's fun for the whole family there as well. We'll see you there. Okay, now back to the video. Florida recently became what's known as a constitutional carry state, meaning that you no longer need a permit to carry a firearm in the Sunshine State. But there's one caveat. Open carry remains completely illegal under most circumstances. This means that Florida's constitutional carry law only applies to concealed carry. In fact, open carry is currently a second degree misdemeanor with a penalty of $500 or 60 days in jail, and you compare that to the penalty for not carrying your state ID while concealed carrying, which is a simple $25 fine.
Phil Reboli
What's strange is that this puts Florida right next to states like Illinois and New York, which share this near total ban on open carry. But the difference is that while those states have Democrat anti-gun super majorities in their legislatures, Florida has a super majority of Republicans who campaigned on a pro-gun platform. So you'd think this would lead to the adoption of pro-gun policies, but in Florida that hasn't been the case. But where did this all start? In 1893, Florida adopted a law that completely banned the carrying of firearms in public. This was well after the reconstruction period and openly targeted newly freed slaves. While others enjoyed immunity from enforcement. In 1987, Florida repealed the 1893 law and became a shall issue state where residents could acquire a concealed carry permit. At the time, Florida had the country's second highest murder rate. The opposition to shall issue was massive.
Phil Reboli
Anti-gun opponents of the change claimed there would be blood in the streets if people were allowed to have concealed carry permits. Janet Reno at the time was the assistant state attorney for Dade County. She called on the legislature of Florida to close what she called a loophole in the new law. That loophole was open carry. She dubbed open carry as the Dodge City loophole. The term was effective enough with sheriffs and the media that the legislature called a special session during an unrelated tax matter and quietly banned open carry in Florida. And now almost 40 years later, open carry remains illegal even while constitutional carry was being debated. And as you may know, GOA has been working in Florida for years to help pass a constitutional carry law as we have in a lot of other states. But Florida was hesitant to consider the legislation. But finally in 2022, they took it up, but one thing was conspicuously absent from the bill open carry. This became a heated debate as the Florida Sheriff's Association came out against open carry.
Florida Sherrif’s Association:
I'm a staunch opponent of open carry. We don't need open carry in Florida. I don't think that it serves a good purpose for Florida, but I also know that this concealed carry permit requirement serves nothing for Florida.
Phil Reboli
This gave a lot of Republicans the cover. They need to ignore the will of their constituents and neglect open carry. Just listen to Republican and President of Florida Senate. Kathleen Pomos answer when she was asked why she doesn't support open carry.
Reporter:
You don't support open carry, do you?
Kathleen Pomos:
Senator? I will support what the sheriffs of this state who are the experts. I am not an expert. I don't know one end of a gun from another. So I certainly want to support the experts and that's why I support the permitless carry. And the reality is this Bill basically says you do not need the government's permission to carry your weapon. That in my mind is constitutional carry.
Phil Reboli
It is interesting that she supports the opinion of so-called experts, but not the will of the citizens of Florida, her constituents. And meanwhile, even Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recognized that the fight over open carry was completely ridiculous.
Reporter:
I just wanted to ask you, the legislature is moving forward with permitless carry legislation, and you have said that you would support open carry legislation. Is that something that you'd like to see the legislature push
Governor Ron DeSantis:
For? So I've been very clear. I support all of it. Now, if you look around the country, 25 states have concealed permitless carry. 37 states have unlicensed open carry. So the open carry is something that has been less of a big deal than the concealed carry. And in fact, Florida is one of only four states, California, Illinois, New York, Florida, and the District of Columbia that do not allow any open carry at all. And so that's typically not the group of states we want to be in, particularly when it comes to exercising core rights. I think if you talk to most people though, and you go to those 37 states, do you see a lot of people open carrying in those? No, not. You actually don't. I think it's just people want to know that, hey, this is a constitutional right. I shouldn't be put in jail because I'm exercising it. So I don't think it would change very much, but I do think it would just tell people, yeah, it is a right knowing
Phil Reboli
That the governor would sign onto a bill that included a repeal to Florida's ban on open carry. We along with many of our members, lobby the legislature to act
Speaker 3:
Open Carry.
Speaker 6:
Open carry and open carry. Open carry. Last I checked, the second amendment states clearly the people have the right to keep and bear arms. It doesn't say the people have the right to keep and bear arms concealed. Only open carry, open carry an open carry, open carry, open carry.
Speaker 7:
Gun Owners of America represents more than 2 million gun owners. And we urge the subcommittee to add open carry to this bill.
Speaker 8:
Open carry, open
Speaker 6:
Carry, open carry, open carry. I support this bill as is, but I believe it should be amended and open carry be added to it. No more, no less.
Phil Reboli
We began to stir the pot. And a lot of people noticed, even PBS decided to comment when discussing the law.
PBS Speaker 1:
The gun owners of America has been really critical of the Republican led Florida legislature for not doing enough, not going far enough towards what they would like to see done. I mean, what kind of role is that group playing now as the sort of NRA takes more of a backseat with its problems?
PBS Speaker 2:
So here in Florida and in our own echo chamber where it's a smaller legislature than say Congress, I think their influence is growing. But to Chris's point, where does it go? Certainly gun owners of America, they promote themselves as no compromise, free rights. That's it. End of conversation. No compromise. And they did take issue even with the constitutional carry legislation last year saying it's not far enough. It needs to be open. Carry this people's rights.
Phil Reboli
Unfortunately, in 2023, the constitutional carry bill passed into law without a repeal on Florida's ban on open carry. But that wasn't going to stop us. We worked with state representative Mike Beltran to introduce House Bill 1619, which would've repealed the ban on open carry. But unfortunately, Republican leadership was against that bill. Listen to the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives when asked about open carry.
Florida Speaker of the House:
Well, I'm a supporter of the Second Amendment across the board on in many aspects, but we're in the same legislature, same members we had last year. There's not an appetite in both chambers to get that done. I support it personally, but I don't see, we always have to measure whether it's worth the committee time, the house floor time to pass a bill that would be controversial, that would take a lot of time that we know is dead on arrival. And I respect as the Senate president respects some areas that I mentioned in education where there's some red lines for me that I just can't take it, I'll light myself in fire. And so many of the people standing behind me on some of these things that really go to the core of accountability. And there's some senators that feel that way and I respect that. So we'll have a respectful disagreement.
Phil Reboli
So faced with the fact that Republicans have refused to support the Second Amendment in Florida and repeal the unconstitutional ban on open carry, we had no choice but to consider legal action. Over the next few months, we began to prep a lawsuit against Florida. And finally the other day we filed our lawsuit and announced our plan of action to the public. We arguing that Florida's ban on open carry is outside the history and tradition of firearms regulation in the United States. This test set forth by the Supreme Court's brewing decision clearly states that if a regulation falls outside the text history and tradition of the Second Amendment, it's unconstitutional. We know for a fact that Florida's underhanded action that it took to ban open carry absolutely qualifies as unconstitutional. Not only that, but the original ban on open carry from 1893 targeted newly freed slaves ingraining this gun control law in racism and prejudice.
Phil Reboli
That's ironic because every town for gun safety, AKA Michael Bloomberg says that open carry is a dangerous policy that is supported by hate groups and is exploited by white supremacists and opposed by law enforcement. Sounds like they may want to read their history books on the origins of gun control. We're seeking a permanent injunction to the law, which would result in the total repeal of the ban on open carry. The Second Amendment says, shall not be infringed for a reason. And that's where we're at currently. When there's a change in the case, we'll let you know. I'm Phil, thanks for watching Law and Ammo.
YouTube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Kt-GVM4lo
Credit: Gun Owners of America