Florida could soon become the 26th state to allow people to carry concealed loaded guns anywhere without permits, a growing trend that has alarmed gun safety groups.
Republican leaders in the Florida Legislature said they intend to introduce and promote such legislation when they call the next legislative session on March 7.
Conservatives and gun rights activists have begun calling the category of legislation “constitutional carry,” even though no provision in the Constitution explicitly allows the right to carry concealed and unlicensed weapons. Gun control and security activists, as well as neutral groups, prefer to label the category of legislation «carry without a permit.»
Asked if State Senate Speaker Kathleen Passidomo would help introduce a bill that would allow people to carry concealed loaded guns in public without concealed carry permits, a spokesperson replied: «Yes.»
“President Passidomo supports the carry without permit legislation,” spokeswoman Katy Betta said.
Republican state House Speaker Paul Renner also suggested that he was planning to introduce such a bill in his chamber.
“The Florida House of Representatives will work to expand the constitutional rights that empower law-abiding citizens to defend themselves,” Renner said in a written statement in response to questions from NBC News.
Lawmakers had yet to introduce any such bill as of Thursday, but Renner’s aides said the introduction of at least one was imminent.
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said last month that the issue had emerged as a priority for him in 2023.
“This was something I have always supported,” DeSantis told the Tampa Bay Times in December. “The last two years, it wasn’t necessarily a priority for the legislative leadership. But we have been talking about it… and it will be something that will be done in the ordinary session”.
DeSantis, who is believed to be considering a run for president in 2024, had promised to deliver such a bill before leaving office.
A Renner spokesperson suggested the legislation could look a lot like a bill from the 2022 session, HB 103which proposed “eliminate the requirement that a concealed carry firearm license is required to carry such a firearm.”
Having won supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature in the November elections, Florida Republicans could overcome any Democratic opposition and pass their preferred law.
A spokesman for DeSantis did not respond to questions about the timing and circumstances of any potential permitless hauling bill in the upcoming legislative session.
Under Florida law, individuals seeking to carry concealed weapons in public must obtain concealed weapon licenses from the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The “constitutional carry” and “carry without permit” laws eliminate the requirement. It is not legal in Florida to openly carry a weapon.
If and when lawmakers enact such legislation in the next session, Florida would become the state 26 it does so by expanding a national trend in which a growing number of states are allowing the practice.
Other states where lawmakers have introduced carry without a permit legislation in the past two years include Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Nebraska, though those efforts have failed and continue to face an uphill climb. Republican lawmakers from Nebraska introduced a transport invoice without permission this week that experts say may have a better chance of passing this year, though it still faces hurdles moving forward because Republicans do not have a supermajority in the legislature.
In 2021, Arizona, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah enacted laws allowing carry without a permit, and last year, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, and Ohio did as well.
Florida, however, remains among a small group of just four solidly red states (the others are North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana) that still don’t allow the practice.
The bigger picture has alarmed gun control and security groups, who argue that such bills, either by design or by circumstance, would circumvent existing laws requiring background checks and firearms training.
In Florida, for example, most gun owners must complete firearms training courses with state certified instructors as part of your concealed carry license applications. Permitless carry laws eliminate that requirement.
“Carrying without a permit causes harm, and there is data to prove it,” said Shannon Watts, a board member of the gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety.
He pointed to multiple studies showing that states that have implemented carry without a permit have seen increases in both gun violence and police shootings. include a analysis from last year by Everytown showing that firearm homicide rates rose 11% in states that loosened their gun permit regulations. Also, a study conducted last year by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that police shootings had increased by 13% in 10 states that had passed carry without a permit laws from 2014 to 2020.
“The gun lobby says we don’t need new laws; we just need to enforce the laws that are already on the books,» said Allison Anderman, senior counsel and director of local policy at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
“Transportation without a permit does the opposite,” he added. “It prevents us from enforcing existing laws.”
