I’ve termed Florida as the most restrictive pro-gun state in the nation, and pretty much every advocate from the Sunshine State I’ve talked to agrees with that assessment. It’s a sad state of affairs, really, when a state that has a Republican supermajority in the legislature can’t seem to get some basic gun rights restored.
One prime example of that is open carry.
Now, I’ve never hidden that I’m not a huge fan of open carry for most occasions. I have reasons for that, but I respect those who choose to carry openly on a daily basis for whatever reasons they so choose. I believe it’s our right under the Second Amendment to decide how we will carry, and states shouldn’t get in the way.
The problem is that Florida lawmakers can’t get off their posteriors and legalize it beyond the handful of exceptions already on the books.
Yet the law is also being challenged in the courts, and the Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation have filed for a summary judgment in their challenge.
From a press release sent on Tuesday:
Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), and Florida resident Richard Hughes have filed a motion for summary judgment in their federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s unconstitutional ban on the open carry of firearms.
This legal action seeks to have Florida Statute § 790.053(1), which criminalizes the open carry of handguns in public, declared unconstitutional. Plaintiffs argue that the ban blatantly violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments, especially following the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in Heller, Bruen, and Rahimi.
The case, Gun Owners of America v. Del Toro, is currently pending in the Southern District of Florida and represents a direct challenge to one of the few remaining open carry prohibitions in the country. If successful, the suit could restore open carry rights to millions of law-abiding Floridians.
Sam Paredes, on behalf of the Board of Directors for Gun Owners Foundation, issued the following statement:
“Florida’s open carry ban is an outdated and unconstitutional relic. The right to bear arms means exactly that—to carry arms, not just to keep them locked away. GOF and GOA are proud to stand with Floridians demanding their rights back, and we are confident the court will recognize the Second Amendment doesn’t stop at concealment.”
Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, issued the following statement:
“This is a critical moment for Florida gun owners. The state’s ban on open carry has no basis in history or tradition and is flatly unconstitutional under Bruen. Floridians should not have to hide their right to bear arms under a shirt or jacket to avoid being arrested. We’re asking the court to end this infringement once and for all.”
Luis Valdes, Florida State Director for Gun Owners of America, issued the following statement:
“This case is personal for me and millions of gun owners across the Sunshine State. Florida likes to brand itself as pro-Second Amendment, but this ban proves otherwise. We are fighting to restore a right that never should’ve been taken away—and we won’t stop until every Floridian can carry openly, freely, and constitutionally.”
Now, what are the odds of this actually being granted?
I honestly don’t know. I’m not sure how much of a fight Florida intends to put up over this. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has said in other cases that Florida wouldn’t defend certain gun control laws before the courts, so if he’s essentially going to do the same here, then this is a slam dunk.
But it should be a slam dunk either way.
As noted above, this law runs contrary to Heller, Bruen, and Rahimi.
For example, Bruen requires an analog to some gun control law from the time of the Second or 14th Amendment’s ratification in order to be considered constitutional. While Rahimi says the analog doesn’t have to be one-to-one, I still think folks are going to be hard-pressed to find anything close to justification for a ban on openly carrying a gun.
At the time, open carry was explicitly preferred over concealed carry, in part because if you knew about a gun, you could account for it while a concealed firearm was viewed quite differently.
So this should be an interesting case to follow, and I hope that we get the results the folks in Florida deserve.
Read the full article here
