The Briefing Room
State Chapters => Florida => Topic started by: libertybele on April 30, 2022, 07:57:41 pm
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This will be an interesting issue if Crist decides to bring this out as an issue to use against DeSantis. Crist has flip-flopped on the 2A several times.
DeSantis vows Florida will allow people to carry firearms without permits 'before I am done as governor'
Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed on Friday that he would make Florida a so-called constitutional carry state, which would allow people to publicly carry firearms without permits.
"The legislature will get it done," DeSantis said during a news conference in north Florida. "I can't tell you if it's going to be next week or six months, but I can tell you that before I am done as governor, we will have a signature on that."
In Florida, people must obtain concealed weapon permits in order to carry hidden guns in public. About 2.5 million people have permits, more than any other state where they are required. The permit can be obtained by taking a gun training course and submitting proof of competency. In most cases, gun owners in Florida cannot openly carry firearms without permits, either, except in certain circumstances, like while hunting.
For DeSantis, successfully ushering a constitutional carry measure into law would be another conservative victory as he builds a resume that could appeal to Republican primary voters if he decides to run for president. He has already taken on several other issues of importance to his base, including a 15-week abortion ban and championing several measures the LGBTQ community has called anti-transgender, such as a prohibition on transgender girls and women competing in female scholastic sports.
"We used to be a leader on the Second Amendment," said DeSantis, who is up for reelection in November.
Gun rights advocates have long pushed to make Florida, already one of the most gun-friendly states in the country, a constitutional carry state. But they have been unsuccessful in convincing Republican leaders who have held power in Tallahassee for two decades to lift one of the few limitations on gun ownership here. Earlier this year, a bill to allow for the constitutional carry of weapons died without any committee hearings.
DeSantis laid the urgency to pass a constitutional carry provision at the feet of state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat and the head of the office that manages weapons permits in Florida. DeSantis asserted that Fried "doesn't support Second Amendment rights."
"So why would you want to subcontract out your constitutional rights to a public official that rejects the very existence of those rights," DeSantis said. .......................
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/politics/desantis-concealed-firearms/index.html