Gun owners expected positive things when they elected Republican Greg Steube to the Florida state senate. Senator Steube has rewarded their fair by introducing a number of gun law reform measures.
The measures received large majority support in the House. They were stymied in the Senate, bottled up in the Judiciary Committee. The Republican former Chair of that committee lost his primary last year. Senator Steube is now the Chair of the Judiciary Committee.
In a cycnical twist, Republica Senator Anitere Flores (R) Miami, formerly a staunch Second Amendment supporter, reversed her position. Prepping for a bid for Miami Mayor, she’s now cozying-up to Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and blocking reform measures from passing out of Committee.
The Committee has five Republicans and four Democrats. One swing vote determines if a measure will pass, if Committee members vote on party lines. Senator Steube still hopes the legislature can pass an open carry bill — but it’s not what millions of Florida gun owners hope/expect/demand. From newschief.com:
Judiciary Chairman Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican who has been among the leading proponents of Second Amendment rights since joining the Legislature in 2010, said he will eventually take up a major gun bill in his committee.
That could be a proposal (SB 644) that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry firearms; a proposal (SB 622) that would allow them to carry weapons on college or university campuses; or an even more wide-ranging measure by Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.
SB-646, scheduled to be heard in the Judiciary Committee on March 28th, does not legalize open carry. It removes criminal penalties for open carry and provides for the payment of a civil fine of $25. It also allows for temporary open display of a firearm by people who are carrying concealed weapons. From the bill(pdf):
A bill to be entitled An act relating to weapons and firearms; amending s.790.053, F.S.; deleting a statement of applicability relating to violations of carrying a concealed weapon or firearm; reducing the penalty for a violation of specified provisions relating to openly carrying weapons; making a fine payable to the clerk of the court; amending s. 790.06, F.S.; providing that a person licensed to carry a concealed weapon or firearm who is lawfully carrying a firearm does not violate certain provisions if the firearm is temporarily and openly displayed;
It is unclear how Senator Flores will vote on this mild reform. The NRA is urging members to contact their State Senator to vote in favor of SB-646.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Gun Watch
This begs the question, could one be cited multiple times for one OC outing? One would think not. This could lead to some interesting protests.
As a Florida resident I read the accidental open carry with a $25 civil fine for first violation, $500 for second and a misdemeanor crime for third.
Does this impact being made by printing? As of now the way I see the current law it’s a crime to be made by printing. Will that still be the case? If this allows me to just make sure the pistol itself isn’t visible by just having a t-shirt cover it that would be nice. It would make it easy to carry a full size pistol in sunny and warm Florida.
Printing is not illegal in Florida
When I took the coarse four years ago the office teaching it said printing is illegal. If someone makes you calls the police the officer can ticket you.
You need to get your money back. Printing has never been illegal, but since some agencies were abusing their power the Florida legislature clarified it for those idiots:
Florida 790.053 Open carrying of weapons.— (1) Except as otherwise provided by law and in subsection (2), it is unlawful for any person to openly carry on or about his or her person any firearm or electric weapon or device. It is not a violation of this section for a person licensed to carry a concealed firearm as provided in s. 790.06(1), and who is lawfully carrying a firearm in a concealed manner, to briefly and openly display the firearm to the ordinary sight of another person, unless the firearm is intentionally displayed in an angry or threatening manner, not in necessary self-defense.
So not only can you print, you can even briefly show your pistol.
How can you Florida residents not know your own laws? Damn…
What law did your concealed carry instructor tell you you would be cited with? Please cite since he must have explicitly stated it.
That statute is somewhat resent. I think four or five years ago.
@Danny as it was November 2012 I can’t remember exactly. He said you have too conceal your firearm in a manner that you won’t be made. He went on about not visible to a reasonable persons. Printing may not be illegal and that statute doesn’t really talk about printing. If that statute was working this new one wouldn’t be needed. He described what concealed means to him. In his and my guess other officers opinion in FL it’s not concealed if it’s obvious that your carrying. I should have taken the time and not waited four + years to look into it.
So if you are printing, what law would you be breaking and what law would the cops arrest you for violating? Be specific, don’t keep saying “cops don’t like it.” Who gives a fig what they like? What law would they cite you for? How hard can this be for you to answer? You were taught this. Just tell me what law they told you that you would be arrested for.
You’re right. I just read that and several blogs. My take away is its perfectly legal and Florida cops don’t like it. A couple people have been stopped by FL police that asked to see their CCW and told concealed means not visible even through clothes. But no tickets were written. I should have checked myself, but he was a good teacher and had no reason to doubt him. After reading a couple bloggers I still don’t want to print and deal with a cop telling me what I should be doing.
It would be nice for a clarification to cops that printing is legal.
They’ve been told. Repeatedly. If they are not obeying the law, then they are rogue cops/agencies. They exist. A lot, all over America. We could drive Farago into bankruptcy if we listed and talked about all the illegal things cops in America did and how their agencies covered up for them.
If you look up Fort Myers PD it says a lot about my local PD. They have some problems.
Danny, there’s an actual history to the “cops don’t like it.” bit.
Florida gets *lots* of winter visitors.
That includes cops on vacation that see what we have here and relocate down here, away from the snow and slush.
They come pre-programmed with their North East big city attitudes on guns. It’s not unknown for a transplant cop when interacting with a concealed carrier to do what they were trained to do up north.
Like over-reacting and screaming “GUN!” to their partner and slamming them down on the ground, needlessly upping the stress level.
Some of them never fully stop having that kind of a response…
Incorrect as usual. They’re contemplating decriminalizing open carry by a licensee for a first offense. Unlicensed persons still commit a misdemeanor.
Good luck just like the last time RINO’s from the Miami and Orlando area will torpedo the efforts.
It is well past time to force South Florida to become our 51st state. Those of us in the actual Southern part of the state are tired of having our policies dictated by that overpopulated 3rd world country. Between the massive influx of liberal Yankee Jews, and the Latins/Haitians, their politics are not in sync with the rest of the state.
Get what you can, Florida. Then come back for the rest. That strategy has worked for the gungrabbers, and it’s about time that we made it work for us.
Any measure that denies citizens of these United States the absolute uninhibited lawful ownership and possession of firearms for defense of speech, religion, life, liberty is nothing short of usurpation of the Constitution. Growing up in Montana I legally carried openly at a fairly young age. I have view other than this…a free man does not need permission to bare arms. Lets get back to this…..now.
Decriminalization is bad legislating. It’s bad for weed and it will be bad for this. Because it is still illegal in some sense you are still going to have police encounters. If someone decides not to comply with such an encounter- and someone will- force can be used. And when guns are involved from the beginning of the incident that might be ugly.
If it’s worth decriminalizing, usually it’s worth just making legal.
There’s a logic to the decriminalization of weed. It’s a stepping stone to legalizing medical weed and eventually full legalization.
And that’s a step to removing a certain question on the 4473…
“It removes criminal penalties for open carry and provides for the payment of a civil fine of $25. It also allows for temporary open display of a firearm by people who are carrying concealed weapons. ”
Didn’t they do this once before in regards to inadvertent exposure?
“It is not a violation of this section for a person licensed to carry a concealed firearm as provided in s. 790.06(1), and who is lawfully carrying a firearm in a concealed manner, to briefly and openly display the firearm to the ordinary sight of another person, unless the firearm is intentionally displayed in an angry or threatening manner, not in necessary self-defense.”
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/rick-scott-approves-bill-to-briefly-flash-your-gun-at-people-6446116
And permit holders are still being charged for inadvertent exposure which is why its being revisited this time around. And they want to throw people the same bone they did last time and expect people to be grateful?
Great, the state is thinking about decriminalization of a constitutionally protected activity. Hopefully the first person cited under this ridiculous law has the money to sue using U.S.C.§ 1983 which allows a person whose constitutional rights have been violated to sue the responsible public official or governmental body for money damages.
Weak ass RINO shit. Florida needs some primary action yesterday on these douche nozzels.
Man he has a square jaw. Maybe he’s intended for bigger things.
Get something passed! It’s like exercise. When it becomes a habit, it’s much easier and becomes a no brainer.
Look at California for the proof the opposite way. It’s just a habit to pass new anti-gun bills EVERY session. It’s like a chainsaw vs. an axe. Instead of trying to take a tree down with a mighty blow, you just keep digging into it faster and deeper and pretty soon the tree falls much faster than with a silly old axe.
Not only is there no law against “printing”, but you can do a WHOLE LOT more than that.
And some of us will.
Poke a finger in the eye of hypocritical politicians that only give us lip service but fail to actually restore our rights, such as open carry, denied since 1987 at the behest of Janet Reno.
All the below are legal under current law in Florida:
1. Conceal your gun in a leather, pistol-shaped holster with a lid, such as the one made for the P38 (it almost fits my Glock 23, so most anything smaller will fit). And then wear the holster openly. No part of the gun shows, so it is concealed.
2. Wear a “Glock sock” (made by folks at Come and Take It – when Texas was protesting to get their pistol open carry right restored) over your OWB holster and pistol, or something similar. It’s basically a cloth that hides your pistol, but has a picture of a gun on it.
3. Wear a t-shirt with a gun pic and the words, “Lawfully Armed”, or “Licensed & Carrying”.
4. Wear your ammo pouches and carriers openly. Even the ones that expose your magazines in plain view are legal, as they are not considered firearms under the law.
This protest is called “Concealed Open Carry”, and some patriots are already doing this First Amendment protest in Florida.
The best places to do it are on public property and in public buildings wherever concealed carry is legal. You cannot be trespassed from public property (most public property is legal, just learn which are off limits) merely for being armed due to state preemption.
If you choose to support the fight by participating in this peaceful type of protest, record any encounters with police and post them on YouTube to help this movement become viral.
Playing nice and asking “pretty please” has not worked over the many years. Time to take the gloves off and give the RINOs some real embarrassment with this quiet protest in high population tourist areas to let them know we DEMAND our rights be honored.
Let them then try to shut down the First Amendment and we’ll have the ACLU on our side fighting with us. Oh, the irony! 🙂
Patriots, come join the Facebook group “America under distress”.