Florida House releases concealed carry bill

TALLAHASSEE, Florida. — The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday backed a proposal that combines allowing people to carry unlicensed concealed firearms and efforts to improve school safety, despite Democrats’ arguments that easing gun restrictions would increase violence.

A Senate committee on Monday approved a similar measure, with some gun rights groups that want people to be able to openly carry firearms in most public places calling the proposal “too weak.”

The Republican-dominated House committee voted 16–7 to approve a House version (HB 543) that would allow people to carry concealed weapons without going through state licensing, background checks, and mandatory training. It will also provide money to strengthen school security and take other steps to ensure school safety, including coordinating threat assessment services, allowing armed “guardians” to be present in private schools, and calling dogs to detect firearms in schools.

Following a vote on Tuesday, the bill is poised to pass through a full house after the annual legislative session begins on March 7.

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Bill sponsor Chuck Brennan, R-Maccleny, said the proposal would allow people to decide for themselves whether to carry concealed firearms for self-defense and also ensure that mass shootings are deterred through things like expanding school security guards.

“This bill will simply allow Florida residents to carry their own firearms without the bureaucratic red tape and state license costs,” Brannan said.

The Senate Committee on Criminal Justice on Monday voted 5-3 along party lines to approve the Senate version (SB 150).

Both versions drew criticism from people who advocate gun restrictions and some Second Amendment supporters.

Alexis Dorman, a sophomore at Florida State University in Orlando and a member of the Florida chapter of the Student Demand Movement, said allowing people to carry guns without a license would exacerbate gun violence.

“Today, children are watching victims of their own age die from gun violence in restaurants, schools, concert venues, malls, parks, town meetings, sports complexes and, worst of all, , in their own homes,” Dorman said. “It shows how much gun violence has affected an entire generation.”

But gun rights groups, including Gun Owners of America, Florida Kerry, and Florida Gun Rights, have balked at the bills and challenged lawmakers’ characterization of the measures as “constitutional wear.” They called the bills “too weak” because people would not be able to openly carry firearms in public.

“This bill does not change anything in the general scheme of things. We were promised constitutional wear,” Luis Valdez of America’s Gun Owners said Tuesday.

As of January 31, nearly 2.63 million people held gun licenses in Florida issued by the Department of Agriculture and Human Services.

While much of the debate on the bills has focused on the issue of concealed carry, they will also continue to review school safety laws. Lawmakers have repeatedly addressed school safety issues following the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in February 2018, which killed 17 people.

Under both proposals, private schools would be allowed to participate in the guardian program, which allows designated school employees to be armed.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, chairman of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, on Monday criticized the current concealed weapons licensing process and praised parts of the bill he said would help keep schools safe. He also spoke out against allowing people to openly carry weapons.

“I am a strong opponent of open carry. We don’t need open carry in Florida. I don’t think this serves a good purpose for Florida,” Gualtieri told a Senate committee. “But also know that this concealed carry permit requirement does nothing for Florida. And the reason it means nothing to Florida is because it has nothing to do with who goes out and buys the guns.”

Under the proposals, people who carry concealed firearms would be required to have valid identification, which would be produced upon request by law enforcement officials. The proposals will also keep the current list of places where people are prohibited from carrying concealed firearms, such as courthouses, police stations, government meetings, polling stations, sporting events, schools and airport passenger terminals.

Rep. Diane Hart, D-Tampa, said the proposal would lead to increased violence.

“You must know how to carry this gun. You should know it’s dangerous, Hart said. “And I’m starting to wonder if our kids really understand how dangerous this is. And so we say: “It’s all right. Nobody needs permission. Just buy yourself a gun.”

But Rep. Chase Tramont, R-Port Orange, cited issues like broken homes, poverty, peer pressure, low self-esteem and drug abuse as an increase in crime rather than people with guns.

“So to reduce it to someone simply exercising their God-given rights to protect themselves and their families is not based on reality,” Tramont said.

The proposals will provide $42 million to “harden” schools. Among other things, they will provide $12 million to set up an information exchange system that will coordinate services for students considered for threat assessment.

The bills also provide for the creation of the Florida Safe Schools Dog Program, which should help add dogs for detecting firearms.

These measures will encourage schools and students to partner with law enforcement to raise funds to support gun detection dogs.

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