WILLISTON, Fla. (WFLA) — While speaking in Williston to award $22.3 million for developments across Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis promised a constitutional carry law for Florida. While doing a question and answer session, DeSantis answered a question on what upcoming legislation he was working on regarding Second Amendment rights.
“The one thing I wanted the legislature do, and I think we will do, I can’t tell you exactly when, but I’m pretty confident that I will be able to sign a constitutional carry into law,” DeSantis said. “We used to be a leader on Second Amendment, there’s like 25 states that have already done it. I think if you look now, the official in charge of these permits doesn’t support Second Amendment rights. So why would you want to subcontract out your constitutional rights to a public official that rejects the very existence of those rights?”
DeSantis was referring to Democratic official Nikki Fried, the Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner. FDACS is the agency responsible for concealed carry permitting in the state of Florida.
“I can tell you, the legislature will get it done. I can’t tell you if it’s going to be next week, six months, but I can tell you before I am done as governor, we will have a signature on that bill,” DeSantis said. Then the Q&A ended.
Constitutional Carry is a policy of letting people carry guns and other types of weaponry openly and without the need for a permit. Currently to own firearms, you do not need a permit in Florida, but a license is required to carry a concealed firearm. The licensing for concealed carry permits is performed by FDACS.
In response to DeSantis’ statements about carrying firearms, Fried released the following response.
“This is absurd political pandering from the Governor of a state that has experienced some of the worst mass shootings in our country’s history and in a nation where we have the highest rates of gun violence in the world,” Fried said in a statement. “It’s an insult the memories and families of every victim of gun violence. We should be passing laws to prevent gun violence and working to fix our state’s affordable housing crisis, not creating chaos to score political points.”
