Monday, February 27, 2017

Open Carry on Florida: Update.

There is no problem with OC, as we see in the 40+ states that have OC. Gas station robbers are not gunning down OCers at the counter, OCers are not having their guns yanked away by muggers, mass shooters aren't picking out OCers as their first target when they walk into the mall, or any of the other dozen or so largely FICTIONAL scenarios that so called "gun rights supporters" use to disparage the proliferation of OC. So let's set that aside. Whether anyone likes it or not, we are going to have OC in Florida at some point, and no amount of bitching by the Fudds or the liberals or the fair-weather gun people is going to stop it.

Anyway, thanks in part to my communications with certain Florida legislative offices, I may have found out what happened to Senator Steube's SB 140. Shortly after the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting, he seems to have pulled the bill from the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting schedule. The bill included a provision allowing concealed weapons licensees to carry inside the non-sterile areas of the airports. This may be the source of the worsening "political climate" I saw mentioned previously.

It appears that Senator Steube has rewritten SB 140, and the bill is now SB 644. All amendments to the locations where carrying is prohibited have been removed. Whereas SB 140 was an OC bill AND a bill that significantly limited prohibited areas, SB 644 appears to be a purely OC related bill.

Florida Senate Bill 644 would take effect on July 1, 2017 if it passes.

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