Let The Sunshine In

As you read this, the debate over whether Florida will become the 26th state to adopt permitless (aka “Constitutional”) concealed carry is heating up in Tallahassee, with the gun control crowd telling anyone who will listen how this will lead to mayhem.

The legislation is House Bill 543, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has already indicated he will sign it if it reaches his desk. The Sunshine State may be about to make history.

Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, probably had the best reaction to the gun control crowd when he said recently, “Remember, they also predicted blood flowing in the streets when they opposed shall-issue concealed carry permit laws from being passed a generation ago. All they could talk about was minor fender-benders and neighborhood disputes turning into gunfights … It’s the same rhetoric and the same nonsense all over again.”

This is going to be no small battle, even with Republicans enjoying a strong majority in the Florida Legislature. It isn’t just because anti-gunners oppose permitless carry. It is also what this gun rights victory will mean: More than half of the states will be “constitutional carry” states, and that’s a powerful symbol putting gun prohibitionists in the minority.

It’s important to remember what this bill doesn’t do, also. Nowhere in the legislation does it allow open carry, which seems to be a point of contention among some in the gun rights community. Nowhere will it allow felons and other disqualified persons to own or carry a gun legally. What Gottlieb called “nonsense” will be claims this legislation will allow “anybody” to carry guns “anywhere, at any time.”

House Speaker Paul Renner said Florida would continue issuing concealed carry licenses, allowing Floridians to continue taking advantage of reciprocity agreements with other states.

Ask the Sheriff

For those wondering how law enforcement views this proposal, Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis — president of the Florida Sheriffs’ Association — said his organization “stands behind” Renner and sponsors of the legislation.

Nienhuis had perhaps the best moment at a press conference a couple of weeks ago during which HB 543 was announced. When a reporter asked how police will be able to tell whether someone carrying a gun is a criminal or honest citizen, the sheriff’s reaction was one of those “Well, DUH!” moments.

“We know someone is a criminal when they commit a criminal act,” Nienhuis deadpanned.

He also explained how current laws do not touch criminals.

“We don’t know of any criminal,” Nienhuis said, “that ever planned to do a drive-by shooting and in the process said, ‘Oh, I’ve got to go get my permit first.’”

His colleague, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, reminded the press that, “Criminals don’t go get a permit. They don’t care if they follow the law or not.”

The full press conference may be viewed here, and it’s worth watching.

Florida currently has more than 2.6 million active carry licenses in circulation. Many of them are held by non-residents, including me.

Illinois Invites Lawsuits

At this writing, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was still perturbed that a majority of county sheriffs in the Prairie State were vowing to not actively enforce the ban on so-called “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines, although that didn’t appear to be his biggest problem.

Within days of signing House Bill 5471 last month, Pritzker’s law was under legal attack from the Second Amendment Foundation, Illinois State Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, a couple of gun stores and a private citizen named Dane Harrel. The case is known as Harrel v. Raoul.

There’s more. A separate lawsuit has been filed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which estimated there are more than 24.4 million modern sporting rifles in circulation across the country, making it a commonly owned firearm. The National Rifle Association is financially supporting this legal action.

Both lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

This isn’t anyone’s first rodeo. SAF and NRA have both filed several legal actions in Illinois; from successfully challenging the Chicago handgun ban to forcing the state to adopt a concealed carry statute.

SAF and NSSF have petitioned the court for preliminary injunctions, and it’s entirely plausible that the cases will be consolidated as they make their way through the federal courts. Speaking of which …

Court Consolidation

The Illinois lawsuits produced what SAF’s Alan Gottlieb thinks was an interesting attempt by Prairie State pols to do a little judge shopping, and it apparently backfired.

According to Gottlieb, after the legal complaints were filed, the state quietly moved to get all of them consolidated, apparently in an effort to find a judge who might — in their opinion — not be so friendly to the firearms community’s side of the argument. The cases have been consolidated, alright, but under a judge Gottlieb described in a news release as “fair-minded.”

Ever the diplomat, Gottlieb acknowledged, “We anticipated the cases would eventually be consolidated, but instead of winding up with a judge who the state hoped would be unfavorable to Second Amendment issues, I believe we now have an unbiased judge.”

“This effort will likely come back to haunt Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul,” Gottlieb said. “The governor made a spectacle out of signing an extremist gun ban law, and we immediately challenged it in federal court. The attorney general is in the uncomfortable position of having to defend the law, and he’s also a defendant in the case. Their judge shopping efforts have backfired.”

We went through a quick count and it appears SAF is currently involved in approximately 40 different legal actions. The organization is on the cutting edge of gun rights litigation, and attempts by New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Maryland to squirm around the Supreme Court ruling have only whetted SAF’s appetite.

“Pritzker and others like him believe the Second Amendment is a privilege, not a right. In reality, they think the Second Amendment is a loophole, and they are determined to seal it shut because citizen disarmament is really what this is all about. We’re confident the court will shut them down, instead,” he predicted.

Feinstein’s ‘Going Away Gift?’

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein — a perennial anti-gunner about to turn 90 — hasn’t said whether she will seek another term in 2024, but if she decides to bow out, it will not be without one final attack on gun owners and manufacturers.

She introduced last month a 126-page bill called the “Assault Weapons Ban of 2023.” Most of the measure is a list of guns — more than 2,200, according to a news release from her office — that will be exempted from the measure if it passes, which doesn’t seem likely with Republicans in control of the U.S. House. Here are some of the key points:

Bans the sale, manufacture, transfer and importation of 205 military-style assault weapons by name. Owners may keep existing weapons.
Bans any assault weapon with the capacity to utilize a magazine that is not a fixed ammunition magazine and has one or more military characteristics including a pistol grip, a forward grip, a barrel shroud, a threaded barrel or a folding or telescoping stock. Owners may keep existing weapons.

Bans magazines and other ammunition feeding devices that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, which allow shooters to quickly fire many rounds without needing to reload. Owners may keep existing magazines.

Requires a background check on any future sale, trade or gifting of an assault weapon covered by the bill.
Requires that grandfathered assault weapons are stored using a secure gun storage or safety device like a trigger lock.

Is this Feinstein’s “swan song?” If it isn’t some would-be successors are going to be disappointed. Already announcing their intentions to run should she retire are California Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter, and possibly a third member of Congress, Rep. Barbara Lee.

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