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Politics

Gun Groups Get Fired Up Over Open Carry Bill

October 22, 2015 - 10:00pm

The 2016 regular session may be a few months away, but a bill hoping to allow gun owners to openly carry their firearms in Florida has already begun to cause a commotion across the Sunshine State.

The legislation is a father-son effort from Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, and Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville. If their bills pass, the roughly 1.4 million concealed carry permit holders in Florida would be allowed to openly carry their guns in public.

This week, the proposal passed through the Senate Criminal Justice committee, although it still has to pass through two more committees before it heads to the Senate.

The legislation has gathered wide support from conservatives and gun groups across the state who believe it’s high time for Florida to join the 45 other states which allow open carry. Thirty states do not require any license to carry unconcealed and 15 states allow concealed permit holders to choose to carry openly or concealed at their own discretion.

“As a Libertarian-leaning Republican, I like to see Florida on the list of states that enhances peoples’ rights, makes people stronger,” said Rep. Gaetz on the bill.

Pro-gun group Florida Carry started an online petition to Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature asking them to legalize open carry in Florida. As of Thursday, the online petition had gathered over 8,200 signatures.

The National Rifle Association has also endorsed the bill for the 2016 legislative session.

But other groups across the state, including ones consisting primarily of police officers, have come out in strong opposition to the bill. The Florida Sheriffs Association, a group representing sheriffs statewide, said the new law would make it difficult for police officers to ensure public safety and criticized the bills for omitting gun training and holstering requirements.

Last week, a survey conducted by the group found 70 percent of sheriffs statewide are opposed to the bill. The Palm Beach Post reported 47 of the state’s 67 sheriffs were opposed to the legislation.

But some sheriffs are still in support of the measure, despite the organization officially being against it.

“I don’t want our citizens to have to defend an attack that could have easily been avoided had they been able to clearly demonstrate to a waiting criminal that they are a hard target and not a soft target,” wrote Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey in a recent op-ed. “We as law enforcement leaders should be standing and proudly voicing our desire to ensure that all legislation meets the number one priority of government, to protect its citizens.  By not only having a voice, but exercising that voice in the drafting of this bill, we can make sure we create positive laws that are in the best interest of our citizens and our Law Enforcement members.”


 

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