Loading...

Gun Pulse: DeSantis endorses open carry legislation in Florida

DeSantis commented on social media that he wants to see such a bill “hit my desk,” adding that “Florida needs to join the overwhelming majority of states and protect this right” in the new year.

article image

DeSantis and leadership of the legislature have also sparred over immigration enforcement. Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would place the Agriculture Secretary in charge of immigration enforcement. File Image.

Editor’s Note: Gun Pulse, formerly an email newsletter from The Sentinel meant to cover the battle over the Second Amendment in our nation, is now exclusively available on our website.

 

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis called for Republican lawmakers in the state, who have a supermajority in the legislature, to advance a bill that would end the ban on open carry.

 

Florida law includes a prohibition on openly carrying firearms that has been in effect since 1893. Luis Valdes, who serves as Florida state director for Gun Owners of America, has noted that “Florida is the only conservative state in the country to ban open carry and so-called pro-gun officials have failed to repeal this gun control” despite the Republican supermajority in the state.

 

 

Valdes posted a video last week with Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey in which they both backed the repeal of the open carry ban, after which DeSantis shared and supported the video.

 

DeSantis commented on social media that he wants to see such a bill “hit my desk,” adding that “Florida needs to join the overwhelming majority of states and protect this right” in the new year.

 

 

Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis also shared the video, saying that “the Free State of Florida” must finally “join other states in enacting open carry,” adding that the move would be a “great priority” for the Republican supermajority that Florida voters elected at the end of last year.

 

Florida Republican State Senate President Ben Albritton has indeed vowed to oppose open firearm carry legislation, announcing shortly after his election to serve as Senate President that he would not oppose the Florida Sheriffs Association in their desire to keep open carry illegal.

 

 

Valdes remarked in a statement to local media at the time that Albritton effectively “smacked Florida’s gun owners in the face after those gun owners gave him the very office he holds because they installed a Republican supermajority into power that put him in that office.”

 

DeSantis and leadership of the Republican legislature have also sparred over immigration enforcement. Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would place Florida Agriculture Secretary Wilton Simpson in charge of immigration enforcement, watering down a proposal from DeSantis to support federal immigration enforcement efforts under President Donald Trump.

 

article image