Heads up, Florida residents and visitors.
Starting Saturday, it’s going to be legal to carry a concealed firearm in public in Florida without first obtaining a permit.
Floridians may still apply for a concealed carry permit if they want one, but a new state law that’s effective July 1 removes that requirement.
This from msn.com.
The loosening of requirements makes things easier for gun owners, but the statute passed during this spring’s legislative session does not remove the rules dictating who can own a gun and where they can take a firearm.
– You must be at least 21 years old to buy a firearm in Florida, unless you are a law enforcement or corrections officer, or in the military.
– You have to be a Florida resident and legal U.S. resident to buy a handgun in Florida. A legal U.S. resident from another state can buy a long gun in Florida.
– Those who can’t own guns include people convicted of a felony, dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces, suffering from a physical impairment that prevents the safe handling of firearms, involuntarily committed to treatment, or convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor.
For those who can legally carry a firearm, the new law removes the requirement for a concealed weapons license and its mandatory background check and firearms training course before a person can carry hidden weapons or firearms on their person or in a vehicle in Florida.
While a gun permit will no longer be required, the new law doesn’t change Florida’s list of places where it’s illegal to carry a firearm. Florida Statute 790.06(12)(a) lists more than a dozen places where people cannot have a firearm, whether it is concealed or openly carried. The list is usually emphasized in concealed carry classes, but anyone can read through the law.
– On the list are “places of nuisance,” which can include a massage parlor, house of prostitution, any place gang members use for criminal gang activity, or a building used for illegal games of chance.
– Other places guns are not allowed in Florida include any courthouse; polling place; police, sheriff or highway patrol station; career center; and detention facility, prison or jail.
– Any meeting of state legislators, and the meetings of any governing body of a county, public school district, municipality or special district.
– The state also prohibits firearms at any elementary or secondary school facility or administration building; any college or university facility; and any school, college or professional athletic event not related to firearms.
– Guns are also prohibited in any portion of a business licensed to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, and in courtrooms for most people. Judges can have concealed weapons in their courtroom, and judges can determine who else could have a concealed weapon in a courtroom.
Final thought: I foresee crime and armed violence being reduced in the State of Florida. Those with harmful intent, beware—imagine everyone carrying.
