In 1987 Florida became a "Shall-Issue" state for concealed carry licenses. At the time, Florida had the country’s second highest murder rate and there was much debate about allowing people to arm themselves. Opponents said that there would be “blood in the streets” and simple fender benders would turn in to roadside gun fights.
To ensure that gun owners would not be met with thousands of differing local regulations, the state legislature also passed preemption of all firearms laws. Amongst the ordinances invalidated was Dade County’s ban on openly carrying an unconcealed handgun.
Janet Reno, State Attorney for Dade County at the time, called on the legislature to close what she called a loophole in the new statewide carry laws and outright ban Open Carry throughout the state. Having just lost their fight against Shall-Issue concealed carry, the future US Attorney General, a handful of Florida Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, and newspapers statewide went on the offensive to call for a special session of the legislature to close what they dubbed the “Dodge City Loophole”.
NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer initially fought the open carry ban, explaining that allowing state wide open carry was not a loophole but a carefully planned and considered provision of the carry laws. NRA then announced that they would not fight the open carry ban at that time but pick up the issue during the next regular legislative session. The reason given was to delay implementation of open carry provisions while people became accustomed to concealed carry. While in special session over an unrelated tax matter, the legislature added the open carry ban to the agenda and quickly passed the measure.
23 years later, the Open Carry Ban that Janet Reno so skillfully lobbied for still stands in Florida. What has not lasted are the 1987 predictions of gun control advocates. In fact, crime is down dramatically in Florida since carrying a firearm became legal in public. Citiziens lawfully carrying handguns has been proven so effective in reducing violent crime that many in law enforcement have changed their tune on the matter. The "Shall-Issue" concealed carry movement that started in Florida has been so successful that it has spread to most of the country. Nationwide, violent crime is down everywhere that carrying a handgun has become common.
Florida Governer hopeful Rick Scott agrees that Open Carry should be legal in Florida saying “As a member of the NRA and a hunter, I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and I will protect our fundamental right to keep and bear arms. Florida is one of only seven states with wide prohibition on carrying an unconcealed firearm. Repealing the ban on unconcealed or Open Carry will eliminate practical and constitutional problems in Florida.”
Like another Orlando Sentinel writer in 1987, today Mike Thomas still uses hyperbole, distortions, and false imagery of the open carry movement to skew public opinion. Mr. Thomas asserts that your Second Amendment civil rights should not receive the same protections as the rest of the Bill of Rights by using the common false argument that "a badly written letter never killed anyone." Mr. Thomas is obviously not a student of history having forgotten about such publications as "Mein Kampf", "The Communist Manifesto", and "Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong"; three written works that were used as justification for the deaths of tens of millions of people. They also all advocate a disarmed society.
In America, open carry is now legal in 43 states and no license is required in the majority of them. Even those who once predicted blood in the streets and that people will be afraid of the sight of guns in public have changed their attacks to now just calling open carry silly and Freudian. That is fine by me. We don't ban widely utilized methods of exercising civil rights in this country just because some people think it is silly. It is time for Florida gun owners to come out of the closet and repeal the Janet Reno Open Carry Ban.
Comments
As a Florida resident, I fuly support getting rid of the open carry ban. It blows my mind that I am allowed to carry concealed, but not open. What about open carry makes it so much more dangerous than concealed carry? And if its not more dangerous, why is it banned? And how many criminals carry openly? NONE. They dont like drawing attention to themselves.
This law is about feelings. Some people get scared at the sight of a gun. I say, if you are scared because I have a gun, you must be planning on doing me harm. Law abiding citizens dont shoot people unless they are threatened with death of serious bodily harm, and criminals dont carry openly, so if you are afraid of my gun, you must be planning on hurting or killing me. Either that or you have a phobia, which makes you uniquely unqualified to objectively comment on the issue.
Another thing to think about, my home state does not regulate the method of carry (shall-issue "license to carry handgun"). Most people conceal, but since open carry is legal, it protects the carrier from accidental "exposure" (e.g. printing, jacket lifting). IIRC, in (Texas at least) concealed carry only states, it is a violation if/when the above examples occur.
Extremely well-written. Thank you for your time and your response to openly biased "news" writing.
Open carry deters crime. Criminal see gun, criminal run for life.
I agree that open carry should be completely unrestricted.
It makes everyone safer since criminals won't carry openly for fear of arrest, police will be safer since they will know at a glance who is armed. Florida should use Pennsylvania open carry law as an example for the proper way to implement it. I have been a ccw license holder for 20 years and would much prefer to open carry.
There is one and only one reason to support open carry:
It's my right to do so.
Stop quibbling about statistics, and side effects good and bad.
We need to grow up, accept that liberty has risks, and practice it anyway.
This is exactly how I feel about America altogether!
-- As a citizen of this nation, you either accept the risks and RESPONSIBILITIES that our freedoms give you, or you leave and find a country that has already decided to trade freedom for 'security.' There are plenty of those; if that's your opinion, please go enjoy one. Leave this one as it is, there aren't many like it. Leave those of us who like it this way a country we can be proud of living in.
I don't even intend to open carry, but I do carry concealed on a regular basis. My problem is that in the summer, it is often too hot to properly conceal a firearm. I'd rather not run afoul of the law simply for wearing a light t-shirt which allows a small gust of wind to reveal my concealed weapon. Open Carry isn't widely practiced across most of the country, even though it is legal. I have a strong suspicion that if the ban on open carry had never passed, very few people would be open carrying in Florida today anyway.
True, few people would do it. However, I ran into a situation recently where I would have. You see I am a Florida resident, in the military, and was stationed in Arizona. I had an Arizona permit, which is recognized by Florida, and would use that to carry concealed when I went home. Then the military moved me to New Mecixo. You see, Florida, although they issue permits to non residents, does not recognize permits from other states that are issued to non residents. Therefore, because I had an Arizona license, but was living in New Mexico, they no longer accepted the license. I would have carried open while waiting for a new license, if I was allowed, but I wasn't.
I lived in Florida at the time and the permit bill that allowed concealed carry was put forward as a compromise with people who wanted to ban open carry. I doubt the concealed carry bill would have happened without the ban. At the time people were going into supermarkets carrying openly and there were lots of complaints about it, which was why Dade county banned it.
Hey, what is good for law enforcement is good for law abiding citizens is it not (If one disagrees, one must certainly have more in common with the practices and policies of such despotic regimes as the USSR and the PRC than the found fathers of this Nation)? After all, like Reagan said “we are people with a government not government with a people.” With that in mind, individual God given liberty is far more important than any safety Nazi's sensibilities. Ultimately, it’s high time that we end the liberal nanny state control of the law abiding populace by proper utilization of the ballot box (from local elections on up).
So, Perhaps, in the not so distant future a bona fide conservative native Floridian (an endangered species) will run for Governor until then I am voting for that Midwestern carpetbagger Rick Scott and not the “paper clip Nazi” Alex Stink (as CFO she spent thousands of tax dollars researching how many paperclips the state uses and concluded the state could save money if they used less. But the tax dollars spent on research far exceeded the projected savings of FL using less paperclips; ergo she’s the paper clip Nazi).
I have had a concealed carry license in Florida for years, and carry almost continuously, except when in areas where carry is illegal, such as when on Federal property. I would very much like to see open carry legal once again in Florida, just to avoid the hassle of accidentally having a non-intentional exposure of my concealed carry weapons. -- I have two primary CCW weapons, and I always select the one that best fits my attire. Summer weather forces me to always to select the smaller weapon. Winter weather allows me to select the larger weapon. With open carry, I would have another option for carry when in rural areas, when not hunting.
I live in Florida and have a CCW, but I will not open carry unless we become a gold star state. Why? Because unlicensed OC is a positive advertisement for the RIGHT to bear arms. If OC requires a license, then when sheeple and cops demand to know if we have a license, the 2nd amendment as privilege image is further solidified. Not the way we need to go.
I think OC will cause some uneasyness with people in the begining but people will get use to it.
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