On August 6, Gun Owners of America filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida over its segregation-era ban on open carry. Florida – which is generally pro-Second Amendment – is one of a handful of states that ban open carry, including California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.
The complaint, known as GOA v. Pearson, was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and is joined by Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, and private citizen, Richard Hughes.
According to a GOA press release, Governor DeSantis expressed support for open carry, but it is actually the Republican leadership in the legislature that stands in support of the ban.
Erich Pratt, GOA’s Senior Vice President, issued the following statement:
Florida lawmakers claim to be pro-gun, but year after year, they’ve refused to repeal the 1987 ban on open carry, leaving Floridians in the very anti-gun company of New York, Illinois, and California where this is also prohibited.
GOA has been left with no choice but to sue the state, especially since GOA’s open carry bill was blocked by the Republican legislative leadership during the 2024 session’s first week.
This ban has no historical basis and will surely be found unconstitutional under the Bruen precedent. We look forward to making our case and fighting for law-abiding Floridians.
Florida passed permitless carry, sometimes mistakenly referred to as Constitutional carry, in 2023, but it applies to only concealed carry.
The complaint notes:
This blatant infringement of the Second Amendment right to ‘bear arms’ runs counter to this nation’s historical tradition and would have criminalized the very colonists who openly carried their muskets and mustered on the greens at Lexington and Concord to fight for their independence.
The complaint also notes that Florida’s very first regulations limiting and restricting the carrying of firearms (1893) were enforced almost categorically against newly freed black slaves.
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