Florida Open Carry Bill Passes Committee

Florida CS/SB 300 has passed the Senate Criminal Justice committee, 3 to 2.  Florida is one of only five states where the open carry of modern handguns is routinely banned in public places.  Texas passed a licensed open carry bill on 13 June of 2015.  It will go into effect in January.  The gun law reform bill that passed the Senate committee still has quite a ways to go.  It would reform several aspects of the current law that have been shown to have deleterious effects over the last few years.  Here is a summation of the bill.  From flsenate.gov:

Weapons and Firearms; Providing for construction of statutes that implicate the right to bear arms or engage in self-defense; specifying that a law enforcement officer may arrest a person for the unlicensed carrying of a concealed weapon only upon probable cause that such a violation is being committed; providing that a person licensed to carry a concealed firearm or weapon may also openly carry such firearm or weapon as long as such person is in compliance with specified provisions; providing that a person or entity who infringes on specified rights of an individual may be subject to liability under specified provisions, etc.

The Orlando Sentinel noted that all the gun reform bills are moving in the legislature.  Maybe 2015, with an election coming next year, will show significant progress on gun reform legislation.   From orlandosentinel.com:

All of the bills are moving swiftly through the committee process ahead of the Legislature’s regular session, which begins in January.

Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith spoke in favor of the open-carry bill, saying he’d rather know who in a crowd is carrying a gun.

“Some people don’t like guns, I’m OK with that,’’ Smith said. “Get a can of wasp spray if it works for you.”

Democrats were the only legislators who voted against the bill in committee. From the miamiherald.typepad.com:

“It intimidates people and it makes for a less-friendly downtown shopping environment and it’s not the kind of world I want to live in,” said Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth.

“..it’s not the kind of world I want to live in,” seems to be a common talking point among Democrats.   Others have noted that leftists in general, are angry about reality.  When you consider that the open carry bill being considered in Florida is one of the milder types of legal open carry already in effect in 44 states, soon to be 45 with Texas, you have to wonder how disarmists such as Sen. Clemens, manage to travel about the country. 

Perhaps they are simply fearful, angry, and negative most of the time. 

Definition of disarmist

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