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The Sunshine State has greatly expanded its freedom for law-abiding gun owners, allowing Americans to conceal carry a weapon without obtaining a government permit, just a few months after Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., signed the bill into law.
In early April, Gov. DeSantis signed HB 543, which went into effect on July 1, 2023.
“Constitutional Carry is in the books,” DeSantis said of the bill at its signing in April.
According to Just the News, Florida’s new conceal-carry law makes the Sunshine State the 26th state in the Union to allow Americans to carry a weapon without a permit, although individuals must still pass a background check and a three-day waiting period for gun purchases.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down stringent gun control legislation in the state of New York which had previously required gun owners to “show ‘proper cause’ for carrying firearms outside their homes,” RSBN reported.
The precedent set by the highest court in the land seems to have encouraged a few red states to relax their gun control laws.
Per Just the News, Gov. DeSantis recently addressed the new law at one of his 2024 campaign events, stating, “You don’t need a permission slip from the government to be able to exercise your Second Amendment rights.”
Gun rights in the United States have been a hot topic over the last few years as anti-gun advocates have pushed for gun control legislation and the banning of “assault” weapons.
Joe Biden stated on Twitter in June, “It’s time to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. We did it once before, we can do it again.”
By contrast, Biden’s chief political opponent, President Donald Trump, has promised to protect Second Amendment rights for legal American gun owners.
In April, Trump told a room of gun owners at the annual NRA convention that he would uphold the constitutional right to bear arms.
“I promise you this – with me at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, no one will lay a finger on your firearms…I will uphold those glorious words: shall not be infringed,” he stated.
