An attendee at a gun-rights rally open carries his gun in a holster on Jan. 18, 2019, at the Capitol in Olympia, Washington. | Ted S. Warren, AP
Published on November 25, 2024 at 9:41 am
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Second Amendment groups have long sought an open carry law in Florida.
Yet the state’s newly elected Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, on Tuesday shot down the likelihood of passing an open carry bill next year. He said he stands with the Florida Sheriff’s Association, which opposes open carry.
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“I stand with them today, in opposition. They oppose it. … I trust my law enforcement officials and that’s where I stand,” Albritton told reporters after being sworn in.
Pro-gun groups got the state to loosen its grip on firearm restrictions last year. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a constitutional carry bill into law that gave gun owners the right to carry their firearms concealed without a permit.
Eric Friday is the lead counsel for Florida Carry Inc., a nonprofit gun rights group. He told the Florida Roundup in June that they’re going to push lawmakers to institute “open carry” laws.
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“Florida Carry is gonna continue this fight,” said Friday. “We are going to get the right to open carry because currently, there is no right to carry a shotgun or rifle in the state of Florida outside of your home if you are not hunting. That is an unconstitutional deprivation of that right.”
Other open carry states
Florida is one of four states that doesn’t allow the open carrying of firearms in public spaces — either with or without a license.
Gun advocates’ frustration grew after the governor went on the Bob Rose show a day before the November election to offer his take about what was on the ballot.
The show, which airs on 97.3 WSKY in Gainesville, featured DeSantis telling folks to be on the lookout for an open carry policy next spring.
When Rose told the governor, “I’d much rather have open carry than weed, but that’s just me, governor,” DeSantis responded, “You may get that in this upcoming legislative session, so stay tuned on that.”
This wasn’t the first time DeSantis publicly supported open carry.
In 2023, he vowed to sign such legislation with the support of the Florida Legislature. Now with Albritton at the helm of the Senate chamber, its unlikely lawmakers will be sending any open carry bill to the governor next year.
“Senators file bills all the time about various issues,” Albritton told reporters Tuesday. “If a bill gets filed that deals with that, then we’ll take a closer look at it and see what the implications are. But, at the end of the day, it’s due real caution.”
Albritton’s anti-open carry position doesn’t fall far from his predecessor’s, former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.
Last session, Passidomo refused to take up proposals that loosened the state’s current gun laws, out of fear that it would make police officers’ jobs harder.
“I will support what the sheriffs of this state, who are the experts. I am not an expert. I don’t know one end of a gun from another,” she told reporters during a news conference in March 2023.
But there may still be hope for gun rights advocates.
Albritton did not shoot down a potential provision that would lower the minimum age for young adults to purchase a long rifle.
The proposal, which failed last year, would’ve changed the limit from 21 to 18—marking a return to prior state law.
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