WILLISTON, FL – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday vowed that the state will eventually adopt legislation that will enable residents to carry concealed firearms without a permit, background check or required safety training, via a law known as “constitutional carry” that so far 25 other states in the country have passed.
DeSantis made the announcement during a news conference in Williston, where he did not give a timetable for the law to be passed, but noted he was “pretty confident” that it would be before he leaves office.
“I can’t tell you exactly when, but I’m pretty confident that I will be able to sign ‘constitutional carry’ into law in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said, who many believe is considering a run for the White House in 2024. “The Legislature will get it done. I can’t tell you if it’s going to be next week, six months, but I can tell you that before I am done as governor, we will have a signature on that bill.”
Constitutional carry – also called permit-less carry or unrestricted carry – is a policy that allows individuals to carry firearms without a permit, unless they personally chose to do so. Currently, Florida law requires a license to carry a concealed gun and for users to display a base level of training and proficiency.
Currently, 25 states in the country have various forms of constitutional carry laws on the books, with the most recent adoptee being Georgia when Governor Brian Kemp signed a bill on April 12.
While Second Amendment supporters are heavily in favor of constitutional carry laws, others – including members of law enforcement – have stated that they can be dangerous as well; Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey of Hamilton County in Ohio spoke out against a similar bill signed into law by state Governor Mike DeWine in March.
“To allow people to carry concealed with no background check, no documentation of who they are and no training is dangerous,” McGuffey said at the time. “I am not against the Second Amendment…the right to bear arms. What I’m asking people to do is consider that there must be some failsafe placed into the system.”
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