Florida goes constitutional carry!

AFAIK it's now the only state with unlicensed CCW which still bans open carry (whether licensed or not).

Which means it's not really "constitutional" carry, doesn't it?

Again, for all those rooting for 'constitutional carry' it's not that useful
UNLESS YOU REALLY KNOW WHERE YOU ARE (unlikely if travelling).

Federal GFSZ (Gun Free School Zone ) law, as amended in later 1990s
*only* exempts people with carry permits issued by that state or one of
its locales.

It specfically DOES NOT exempt for
- reciprocal carry;
- constitutional carry.

Remember that school zones are often poorly marked on maps. School
property not in use as school but still designated prob still counts. And
there is a 1000' foot zone from the EDGE of the school property, not the
center (common misperception).

Furthermore things like:
- churches with K-3 day schools
- adult education centers taking funds, students and maybe even
staff from the local high schools (like for Jrs/Srs in ROP trades
classes)
may well count as 'schools'.

Violation/conviction even as a misdemeanor loses your gun rights for
life (poss sentence longer than 1yr etc) and the only 'fix' is a Presidential
pardon.

Nobody will ever get busted for this unless/until someone legit uses
gun in an SD situation (even if unfired). When all the relevant local
paperwork and lawyering gets filed there's all the information a Fed
could want to document the situation and location. Spare me the
nonsense about "no jury would convict" - that's BS esp for Fed juries.

Bill Wiese
San Jose CA

@tkdkerry yeah, that's one reason why I specifically referred to it as "unlicensed carry" not "Constitutional carry". But even if the law did legalize unlicensed open carry, it still wouldn't be "Constitutional carry", because Article I section 8 of the Florida Constitution says:

"SECTION 8. Right to bear arms.—
(a) The right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and of the lawful authority of the state shall not be infringed, except that the manner of bearing arms may be regulated by law."

The state still retains the power to regulate carry, they're just not choosing to require a license to do so in some situations. Real Constitutional carry would be changing the comma to a period and removing everything after it.

Not being a Florida resident, I was wholly unaware of the "except in the manner..." wording in the Florida Constitution. That's good to know, thank you.