Happy Hump Day: Florida Court Rules State Ban on Open Carry is Unconstitutional

Florida is a strange case, gun rights-wise. The ostensible “Gunshine State” has a huge number of concealed carry permit holders, but the big peninsula was a conspicuously late arrival to the permitless carry club. And given the fact that the state has GOP supermajorities in both the House and Senate, you’d think that open carry would long ago have been a fait accompli.

Sadly, no. Aside from some convoluted exceptions for people going fishing or some such stupidity, the squish-filled legislature has never mustered the political will to move an open carry bill to the Governor’s desk. That’s something that’s vexed Big Ron to the point that he recently called out the elephants who love to campaign on gun rights for the rubes back home, yet somehow manage to forget all about the Second Amendment once they’re safely back in Tallahassee.

Today, however, the courts did what the politicians couldn’t wouldn’t do . . .

 A state appeals court on Wednesday threw out Florida’s nearly 40-year-old prohibition on openly carrying guns, contending that it is unconstitutional due to recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

The decision by the 1st District Court of Appeal comes amid Gov. Ron DeSantis’ clamoring for open carry despite wide resistance from local sheriffs, alongside fears it could damage the state’s extremely valuable tourism industry.

That made Ron a very happy man.

You can read the ruling here.

Also, take note that the case is styled McDaniels v. Florida. ‘Florida’ in this case is represented by Attorney General James Uthmeier, who, as you can tell from his tweet at the top, is just as happy about the ruling as the Governor is. That means our friends in the gun control industry shouldn’t expect an appeal and the ruling will likely stand. That makes this a very happy hump day in the Gunshine State.