Florida gun owners not fooled by watered-down carry bill | Opinion

Only three states fully prohibit the open carry of firearms by citizens, and I bet you’d be surprised to hear Florida is among them. Yes, we frustratingly find ourselves in the company of New York and Illinois on this issue. And Republican leaders, including Governor DeSantis, appear poised to keep it that way under the misnamed “Constitutional Carry” bill that is expected to pass this session.  

Gun owners saw right through the façade when House Speaker Paul Renner threw a press conference at the end of January to celebrate introduction of the “Constitutional Carry” bill.  

On the one hand, it does go a long way in restoring the rights of our residents and visitors alike to carry arms in public for self-defense without a permit. On the other hand, the bill falls short of every Constitutional Carry law in the country by quietly omitting the right to carry openly.  So, our leaders are trying to appease one side and fool the other. And to re-emphasize, this bill will keep us in very liberal company. 

I drove eight hours to testify at a hearing earlier this month on the current bill, and walked away ecstatic when witness after witness demandedthe addition of Open Carry. In contrast, when pressed about Open Carry afterwards, sponsor Chuck Brannan (R-Macclenny) apathetically stated the bill “is what it is as filed.” Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples) shared similar sentiments with Rep. Brannan. This indifferent attitude is standing in the way of what the majority wants and are unified in demanding. 

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Just as damning, by keeping the current Open Carry ban in place, our Republican lawmakers will be maintaining a policy status quo that was championed and pushed across the finish line by the stalwart lobbying efforts of Janet Reno, then Miami’s leftist prosecutor and later the U.S. Attorney General. She’s the same person who accepted responsibility for the deaths of dozens of women and children after authorizing the government assault on a compound in Waco, Texas during the Clinton Administration. 

Republicans, the party that champions the Second Amendment, hold a supermajority in our legislature. Instead of taking insignificant baby steps they hope will appease their base, they should take the large leaps for freedom which they’ve promised the voters. Lawmakers in more politically divided states have introduced and passed the very policy we are demanding, and guess what ― it's popular!  

Forty-seven states have Open Carry on the books in some fashion, including 25 via authentic Constitutional Carry laws. Even Hawaii, a Democrat Supermajority-run state whose entire economy relies on tourism, has Open Carry. Our two neighbors recently passed real Constitutional Carry, and South Carolina and Nebraska are poised to pass it this session.  

The same old arguments about bad people getting guns and “Wild West shootouts” materializing in the streets will be raised, but we have a mountain of evidence from other states to refute these claims. And to clarify, this legislation has nothing to do with acquiring firearms, rather it only authorizes those who already own firearms legally to carry them in public without government permission. 

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Now is the chance for Governor DeSantis to once again step in and snag victory from the clutch of defeat by the members of his own party in the legislature. While he’s catching some flak over other Second Amendment missteps, he can prove the doubters wrong with this issue by demanding Open Carry before anything gets his signature.  

We don’t want watered down legislation. We want the great leap other states have taken, which will put Florida at the forefront of liberty on another critical issue – and far away from New York, Illinois, and Washington, D.C. I’m urging Florida’s leadership to get it done, the right way! 

Luis Valdes is the Florida State Director for Gun Owners of America, a non-profit grassroots lobbying organization with over two million members. He is former police officer and detective.