Florida Open Carry Battle Continues

There seems to be little reason Florida doesn’t have some form of open carry.

As it stands, they have permitless concealed carry. They are pro-gun in a lot of ways. The handful of post-Parkland gun control measures passed by the state resulted in some people being out of office and are now threatened with total repeal. It seems obvious that they’d have open carry.

Yet, they don’t.

That’s something they share with New York, California, and Illinois. Now, what do those three states have in common otherwise on guns? Exactly.

Florida’s not anti-gun, though it’s not as pro-gun as some like to think. Still, getting open carry should be easy and yet, the fight is still going to be a rough one.

Efforts to pass open carry legislation in Florida are faltering, even with strong backing from Gov. Ron DeSantis. Senate President Ben Albritton, newly installed in his leadership role, has voiced opposition to the measure, aligning with concerns from law enforcement groups.

Albritton, a Republican, said last week he stands with the Florida Sheriffs Association, which has consistently opposed open carry policies. 

“I trust my law enforcement officials, and that’s where I stand,” Albritton said, signaling little appetite for pushing the controversial measure forward.

Florida currently prohibits openly carrying firearms in public spaces, except in limited circumstances such as hunting, fishing or target shooting. That stance makes it one of only four states in the nation with such restrictions.

Gov. DeSantis has publicly expressed his support for open carry and suggested earlier this year that the Legislature could revisit the issue. The debate comes months after Florida adopted a permit-less concealed carry law, a measure DeSantis and other Republican leaders hailed as a victory for Second Amendment rights.

However, some gun rights advocates were disappointed that the bill stopped short of allowing individuals to openly carry firearms in public. Groups like Florida Carry argue the state’s refusal to expand gun rights further undermines constitutional freedoms.

“It’s a fundamental right that the state continues to deny its citizens,” said Richard Nascak, co-executive director of Florida Carry. “There’s no logical reason for Florida to lag behind the majority of the country on this issue.”

Albritton’s reason for opposing this is a big problem.

Look, I respect law enforcement as a general thing, but they’re also trying to do a job and they don’t like the idea of anything that makes their jobs the least bit more difficult. That’s understandable, but we also need to remember that we can find law enforcement groups who don’t really like Fourth Amendment protections on your vehicle or mobile device, either, because it makes things harder on them while trying to do their job.

That’s what the opposition mentioned is really about.

But the question of open carry isn’t about law enforcement convenience. It’s about people’s rights. The right to keep and bear arms and all that. Remember “…shall not be infringed” right there at the end of the Second Amendment? The curtailment of open carry is an infringement on the right to bear arms.

And Florida could fix this easily. They have the votes, I’m sure. Gov. Ron DeSantis is on board with open carry. Virtually all of the GOP in the Sunshine State are on board.

But Albritton is the one who decides what bills get a vote and which don’t, which means it’s unlikely to see the light of day.

Someone needs to talk some sense into the man. Barring that, someone needs to vote him out of office.