South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Permitless carry: A sure-fire way to increase gun crime
Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken to boasting about the “free state of Florida” as if the other 49 states aren’t “free.”
Maybe we need to look at what the governor defines as freedom. Let’s see, our students are “free” from learning about things in America’s past that might make them “uncomfortable,” like slavery, for example. Our students are “free” to read books, except all the titles that are not blessed by the state. Our LGBTQ community is “free” to explain why they are not “groomers,” as they’ve been called by a DeSantis spokeswoman.
And here’s another “freedom” possibly coming down the pike: the “freedom” to expand the carrying of concealed handguns to Floridians who don’t want the hassle of applying to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to obtain a concealed weapons permit.
(Permitless carry is not
“open carry,” which is prohibited in Florida unless you are carrying a long gun while hunting or fishing.)
Approximately 2.5 million Floridians hold permits to carry a concealed handgun.
In order to acquire a permit, the applicant currently has to submit to a rigorous background check (one more rigorous than the check given when purchasing a firearm) and take a training class on firearm proficiency.
But pro-gun activists think that’s extreme. So,
DeSantis has publicly stated that he will sign a “permitless carry” bill into law before he leaves office. That bill could be filed for this year’s legislative session.
How comforting to think about all the folks who will be carrying concealed firearms who may have no business doing so. What if their criminal history fell through the cracks in the background check? What if they bought their gun from an unlicensed dealer at a gun show? (Unlicensed dealers aren’t required to run background checks.) What if they have no clue how to handle a gun?
Florida already ranks as one of the worst states in terms of gun deaths. Allowing permitless carry will only drive us further to the bottom of the list. Twenty-five states have passed permitless carry into law. GVPedia.org, a gun violence research group, reports that states that pass permitless carry laws see a 22% increase in gun homicides for the three years following the law’s passage.
How does all that sound for the “free state of Florida?” Especially for a state whose economy largely depends on tourism. Visitors from around the world travel to Florida’s theme parks and beaches. If gun crime rises because of permitless carry, how are those tourists going to feel about making trips to our “family-friendly” state? It sure doesn’t sound like a fun vacation.
Why does our governor want this? (And you can bet if our governor wants it, the majority of Republican legislators will want it, too.) Surely, he doesn’t believe permitless carry will make us safer, with all evidence to the contrary. No, more likely his base of supporters and the NRA want it — the gun lobby has long ruled the roost in Tallahassee.
But our lawmakers would do well to peruse recent polling by Giffords Florida, which shows over two-thirds of voters in Miami-Dade County strongly oppose permitless carry, and more than half of the county’s voters will not vote for candidates who support it. Add in the polling that shows most Floridians want gun safety laws — not laws that will put us at a further risk of violence.
Floridians clearly want freedom from gun violence. How does the governor’s notion of “freedom” fit in here?
It doesn’t.
DeSantis has publicly stated that he will sign a “permitless carry” bill into law before he leaves office. That bill could be filed for this year’s legislative session. How comforting to think about all the folks who will be carrying concealed firearms who may have no business doing so.
Patricia Brigham is president of Prevent Gun Violence Florida, a nonprofit 501(c)(4) dedicated to preventing and reducing gun violence.