Florisa has had shall issue concealed carry permits since 1987.
courtesy of jdege
Posted on 08/08/2011 11:04:43 AM PDT by neverdem
New law clarifies accidental weapon exposure issue; goes into effect Oct. 1
A Florida law that goes into effect in two months expands the rights of gun-toters, allowing them to carry a concealed firearm that might be exposed to the ordinary sight of another person.
Senate Bill 234, which eases the restriction on carrying a concealed weapon, has sparked considerable debate in communities across the state over public safety issues. But police officials in St. Augustine say there's no cause for anxiety.
Public Information Officer Mark Samson of St. Augustine Police Department said, "I don't really have any serious concern about it (the new law)."
This law that goes into effect Oct. 1 modifies a provision of the existing firearm statute that prohibits openly carrying a firearm.
Sgt. Chuck Mulligan, public information officer with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said, "The legislation is obviously crafted from the concerns of the public."
The Open Carry law says if a person displays a firearm in an angry or threatening manner for reasons other than self-defense, it would be considered a violation and would be charged as a second-degree misdemeanor.
"If the wind blew open a man's jacket and exposed a gun and someone reported it," Samson said, "the man would not be doing anything illegal."
The language of the bill has essentially been revised to allow for accidents, such as the one in Samson's example.
The law also allows registered firearm owners to have weapons in their cars. In addition, it clarifies that Florida residents "can lawfully purchase, trade, or transfer a rifle or shotgun into another state."
However, those have been limited to states that are "contiguous to Florida."
The law specifies that a previous section of law that defines where weapons are not allowed has not been modified.
Firearms are still not allowed on school property, career centers, bars, college or university property, any place of nuisance (a drug house, for example), police stations, jail and court.
However, the language of the new law has been modified to say, "Nothing in this section would preclude a judge from carrying a concealed weapon or determine who will carry a concealed weapon in his or her courtroom."
This is to enforce the "no weapon" policy in the courthouse while allowing judges to protect themselves.
Private businesses are allowed to decide if they approve guns inside or not. The restrictions on where guns cannot be carried remain mostly the same. But the law does provide that guns are now allowed at parks and town halls, according to The Miami Herald.
Although allowed in town halls, the law prohibits firearms to be carried in a county commission or school board meeting within the town hall in order to avoid gun use in a hostile situation.
"Really what this does is realign the dos and don'ts of carrying a concealed weapon," Samson said. "It's kind of like changing the oil in your car. ... The statute just needed to be updated."
According to Mulligan, "The statute appears to require less law enforcement except where it's prohibited," meaning that officers will only need to enforce open carry laws in prohibited areas, whereas everywhere else has become an open range to carry firearms.
Local officials have to repeal local restrictions on gun ownership. Those who fail to comply with the new law will be fined, according to Diana Dmoskovitz of The Miami Herald. The initial bill suggested setting the fine for noncompliance as high as $5 million. The final bill lowered the fine to $5,000.
Officials and officers who fail to comply with the new law also may be punished by registered firearm carriers, who will be able to sue for damages if they believe their rights have been violated.
Since this law was passed, the only restrictions on concealed weapons are those approved by the state Legislature.
"It's the law, and we are the instruments of the policy makers," Mulligan said. "So if that's what legislation said, then we must follow through."
Marion Hammer, a longtime National Rifle Association lobbyist, said, "You're not going to have every Tom, Dick and Harry carrying a firearm on their person up and down the streets and into buildings because it's a felony."
But once this law is enacted, that will only be a felony if the person does not have a license to carry a concealed weapon.
"Close to a million people in the state are licensed to carry concealed (firearms)," Hammer said.
The concerns of millions of Florida residents about the bill vary in different areas in the state and remain divided -- as the debate has been for some time.
Opinions of the new open carrying law also vary depending upon the size of the city.
Vice Mayor of Miami Gardens Aaron Campbell said, "This probably passed because of someone from the NRA, someone who doesn't care about urban conditions."
"It's sad a piece of legislation can be passed like this," Campbell said.
As to your “urban conditions”, you liberal clown: blacks account for 21% of the population, yet urban blacks commit 54% of gun murders. Were it not for your “urban conditions”, many wouldn’t have to carry their gun everywhere they go.
Uh, no, rather it enforces the original intent of the CCW legislation and protects "gun-toters" from malicious, opportunistic, or misguided prosecution ("getting the Nifong"). Moron.
Ah, so it's perfectly OK for you to force YOUR perceived solutions on rural communities, but for them to force stuff on you is out-of-bounds, then?
Maybe there's another one. ;-)
And which party is responsible (and so if they're offended by the solution, too bad) for the 100 years of statist rights-suppression that led to that situation?
Huh? Led to what situation? The situation where someome may feel uncomfortable seeing someone carrying a gun openly? Didn’t know that was party specific.
Well, it may not be, but it's certainly specific to statist vs. freedom loving pols. Particularly in the South, Dems are responsible for gun control, as they passed nominally color blind laws prohibiting all sorts of gun-related rights exercise including CCW, which were intended and enforced in such a way as to make sure newly freed blacks were defenseless.
As time went on, the laws began to be interpreted literally and enforced more equally upon everyone. One can't help but assume that that effect of that, coupled with the way the government-friendly leftist media treats guns and gunowners has largely contributed to people's discomfort with guns in public in the hands of those other than their tax-paid employees (isn't THAT an odd inversion of logic?).
Like SCOTUS ruling that machine guns need not be treated as "in common use" when they were very much in common use till THE GOVERNMENT made it so onerous that no one bothered anymore.
See the circularity? FAR too convenient and tempting to entrust to someone with the ethics of a politician.
7 little words. None of which require the murkier recesses of an unabridged dictionary to discern the meanings thereof.
None of this legalistic crap would be needed if we just applied the Second Amendment as it was designed.
I agree that the laws and demonizing of guns has made that perception in people. I also think that people get nervous around guns because of gun violence alone too.
Another example would be the poking their nose unConstitutionally and unwelcome into healthcare, then justifying restrictions on what we may or may not do because the taxpayers are funding our healthcare.
I'm sure there's some truth to that as well, but it should become less and less connected the more people see the law abiding going about armed.
The real mayor there, Shirley Gibson, I think she also ran for Meek’s seat (our critter), has actually done a great job for Miami Gardens by cleaning up the city which is a neighboring city to ours north of county line road. Joe Robbin Stadium resides there together with Calder racetrack
this is about removing all the illegal to florida laws from the local rules.
many of these local idiots pass gun laws with full knowledge that they can not be enforced. They do it for feel good PR. You can never know the laws as they change from county to county.
This will neuter the leftists and ths socialists.
Minnesota did it right when they wrote their statute....
“on or about one’s person or clothing.”
Your cover garment blows in the wind....
No big deal.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
And yes, it has happened.
Florida has gun registration? Or registration of firearms owner?
Or a calm and reasonable person calls who simply doesn’t know carry is legal and the cops stage a major operation anyway. Carvers? Culvers?
Florisa has had shall issue concealed carry permits since 1987.
courtesy of jdege
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