Though Republican leadership in the Florida Senate once again stymied efforts to repeal several post-Parkland gun laws this session, at least one bill that will nominally improve the state’s statutes involving the right to carry.
SB 52 allows “any person who, on a voluntary basis and without18 compensation, provides armed security services on the premises of a church, mosque, synagogue, or other place of worship” to do so without having to first obtain the licenses that are usually mandated by the state for anyone performing security in a professional setting.
While Florida’s concealed carry law already allows for lawful carry in houses of worship, that particular law is silent about whether those armed individuals can formally participate in church security. I’d say SB 52 and its House companion HB 95 offer more of a clarification than a huge advance in the state’s 2A framework, but it’s still a positive step, and one that will likely benefit smaller houses of worship and those in more rural areas where hiring professional security may not be an option.
When Sen. Don Gaetz introduced SB 52 last fall, he described it as a bill he hoped “would never have been necessary.” But after several local pastors approached him with their concerns, he decided to act.
The bill language says “place of worship” but also includes the words “church, mosque, or synagogue.”
“I was approached by Protestant ministers,” Gaetz said, adding that he has not spoken to Roman Catholic clergy, imams or rabbis.
But “I took the liberty of defining a house of worship in a way that would include all denominations,” he explained.
As he should have. I’m not sure if the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper was trying to play “gotcha” with Gaetz by bringing up the ecumenical nature of his proposal, but of course it shouldn’t be limited solely to Protestant churches. In fact, it would be a lawsuit waiting to happen if the bill did not apply to particular religions or certain denominations.
SB 52 is now headed to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and I’d be shocked if he vetoed the legislation. DeSantis asked the legislature to do much more this session, including repealing the ban on gun sales to adults under the age of 21, but Senate President Ben Albritton and Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, who chairs the Senate Judiciary committee, made sure that bill and several others never had a chance in the upper chamber.
Lawmakers did also approve a bill expanding the Florida School Guardian program to colleges and universities, which will allow some staff members to carry a firearm on campus after undergoing 144 hours of training. Anti-gunners are already complaining about that bill, and we’ll detail (and rebut) their objections in an upcoming post.
I’m sure we’ll hear complaints about Gaetz’s bill as well, but this is really just a common sense move on the part of the legislature. If folks can already legally carry in houses of worship, it makes sense to allow them to serve as part of the security team protecting the flock. As we recently saw in Michigan, armed security in these settings save lives, and Gaetz’s legislation should provide peace of mind as well as an added layer of protection to worshippers across the state.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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