House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast opens a special legislative session Dec. 12, 2022, at the Capitol in Tallahassee.House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast opens a special legislative session Dec. 12, 2022, at the Capitol in Tallahassee.
House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast opens a special legislative session Dec. 12, 2022, at the Capitol in Tallahassee.

Open carry gun bill unlikely to pass this session

Published on January 17, 2024 at 1:34 pm
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Florida House Speaker Paul Renner is shooting down any hopes of Florida becoming an open-carry state, at least for now.

During last Thursday’s remarks to reporters, Renner said while he supports the idea of open carry, it would be unlikely to see a law get passed this year.

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“I’m a supporter of the Second Amendment across the board in many aspects,” said Renner. “There’s not an appetite in both chambers to get that done.”

Renner’s comments come after Rep. Mike Beltran, R-Riverview, filed legislation to make changes to the state’s current gun laws, including allowing people to openly carry firearms on college campuses.

“We always have to measure whether it’s worth the committee [and] House floor time to pass a bill that would be controversial that would take a lot of time, that we know is dead on arrival.”

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The bill(HB 1619), would also allow guns to be carried in certain government buildings and at voting polls. The proposal comes just a year after the state made it legal for most Floridians to carry guns without a permit, as long as it’s concealed.

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Adrian Andrews is a multimedia journalist with WFSU Public Media. He is a Gadsden County native and a first-generation college graduate from Florida A&M University. Adrian is also a military veteran, ending his career as a Florida Army National Guard Non-Comissioned Officer. Adrian has experience in print writing, digital content creation, documentary and film production. He has spent the last four years on the staff of several award-winning publications such as The Famuan, Gadsden County News Corp. and Cumulus Media before joining the WFSU news team.

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