Gun Owners of America Openly Fights Florida Gun Ban: ‘Egregious Violation’

FIRST ON FOX: Gun rights activists are fighting to repeal Florida’s ban on openly carrying firearms after the Republican-controlled legislature rejected a repeal attempt.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida seeking to have the 1893 firearms restriction declared unconstitutional and obtain a court order blocking enforcement of the law. The challenged law makes it “unlawful for any person to carry openly upon or about his person any firearm or any electrical weapon or device.”

“Despite its reputation as a largely gun-friendly state, Florida inexplicably continues to prohibit the peaceful open and unconcealed carry of firearms,” the complaint, obtained by Fox News Digital, states.

“This flagrant violation of the Second Amendment right to ‘bear arms’ runs counter to this nation’s historic tradition and would have criminalized the colonists who openly carried their muskets and gathered on the lawns of Lexington and Concord to fight for their independence.”

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A book about Florida gun laws is displayed at the Top Shottas Guns & Tactical Supply store in Fort Lauderdale on June 29, 2023. Florida’s law allowing people to carry concealed weapons without a state permit went into effect on July 1, 2023. (Carline Jean/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Gun Owners of America’s arguments assert that Florida’s open carry ban is not part of the history and tradition of gun regulation in the United States—a direct appeal to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (2022). The Supreme Court held that the ability to carry firearms in public is a constitutional right and that any restrictions must be consistent with the nation’s “historic tradition of gun regulation.”

Gun Owners of America points out that Florida’s open carry ban was enacted decades after Reconstruction and more than a century after the Second Amendment was ratified. “To make matters worse, the 1893 open carry ban targeted only a disadvantaged subset of the population—recently freed blacks—while whites enjoyed de facto immunity from law enforcement,” the complaint alleges.

The plaintiffs also claim that Florida is both a historical outlier and one of the few states that has a complete ban on guns. The others are Republican states California, Illinois, New York, and the District of Columbia. “In contrast, the vast majority of states allow firearms of all kinds (handguns and long guns) to be carried by any law-abiding adult without a license,” the complaint says.

“Plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction followed by a permanent injunction, as well as declaratory and other relief, to rectify Florida’s violation of an enumerated right that ‘shall not be infringed.'”

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed the constitutional gun control bill into law. A DeSantis administration official said the governor also supports public gun control and is waiting for the legislature to act. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)

The lawsuit was filed after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a GOP-backed bill last year that eliminated the requirement for state residents to obtain a permit to carry concealed firearms. The law allows eligible citizens 21 and older to carry guns without applying for a permit from the government and paying a fee. The legislation did not change the requirements for obtaining a gun permit, and those who still want a permit can do so under the law.

A DeSantis administration official told Fox News Digital that the governor supported efforts to include the repeal of the open carry ban in that legislation, but state lawmakers wouldn’t budge. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican, said at the time that she didn’t support open carry because the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) and other law enforcement groups opposed the effort, according to the Florida Phoenix.

Florida Democrats and anti-gun activists have also opposed the constitutional gun law, warning that making concealed carry easier would lead to more violence. The anti-gun group Everytown for Gun Safety calls open carry a “dangerous policy” supported by hate groups and says it is “exploited by white supremacists and opposed by law enforcement and the public.”

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Kenny Wolfam carries a pistol during a counter-protest at a “Moms Demand Action” protest in response to a new gun law in Texas at Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston on June 17, 2021. (Mark Felix/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)

Although Second Amendment supporters supported Florida’s constitutional gun law, some, like GOA, said it didn’t go far enough because the reform doesn’t apply to open carry.

“Florida lawmakers claim to be pro-gun, but year after year they refuse to repeal the 1987 open carry ban, leaving Floridians in the same anti-gun company as New York, Illinois and California, where it is also banned,” said Erich Pratt, senior vice president of GOA.

“GOA had no choice but to sue the state, especially since GOA’s open carry bill was blocked by Republican legislative leaders in the first week of the 2024 session.

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“This ban has no historical basis and will almost certainly be found unconstitutional under the Bruen precedent. We look forward to making our case and fighting for law-abiding Floridians.”

St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson, State’s Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl and the State’s Attorney’s Office for the 19th Judicial Circuit of Florida are named as defendants in the complaint.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.