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Tag: open carry

  • Judge panel rules California’s open carry ban unconstitutional

    A dissenting panel of federal judges for the Ninth Circuit on Friday deemed California’s open carry ban in most counties unconstitutional.The ruling comes following a challenge by Mark Baird, who the San Francisco Chronicle identifies as a gun owner from Siskiyou County. Baird specifically challenged California’s restriction on open carry in counties with a population greater than 200,000.(Video Above: California ammunition background check law is unconstitutional)The panel ruled 2-1 in Baird’s favor. In favor of Baird, Judge Lawrence VanDyke noted that the restrictions apply to roughly 95% of the state’s population. And for those counties with populations under 200,000, the judge notes that those wanting to open carry need to apply for a license allowing them to do so, but that the ability to secure the license is “unclear.””California admits that it has no record of even one open-carry license being issued, and one potential reason is that California has misled its citizens about how to apply for an open-carry license,” the ruling’s summary states, referring to the opinions of VanDyke and Judge Kenneth K. Lee. The panel held that the open carry ban was inconsistent with the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms as applied to states under the Fourteenth Amendment. It also referred to the standard applied in 2022’s New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which established that “historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition.”Judge N. Randy Smith, who dissented in part, noted that “open carry is not conduct that is covered by the plain text of the Second Amendment.” Smith also noted that reasoning in the Bruen case allows California to lawfully eliminate one manner of public carry to protect citizens, “so long as its citizens may carry weapons in another manner that allows for self-defense.”Smith asserted that because California allows concealed carry, it may restrict open carry.While the court primarily sided with Baird, it also rejected his related challenge to California’s licensing requirements in counties with fewer than 200,000 residents. Those counties may issue open-carry permits.See the full ruling here. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office slammed the ruling on social media Friday. “California just got military troops with weapons of war off of the streets of our cities, but now Republican activists on the Ninth Circuit want to replace them with gunslingers and return to the days of the Wild West. California’s law was carefully crafted to comply with the Second Amendment and we’re confident this decision will not stand,” the Newsom’s office said.KCRA 3 has reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Office for comment.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    A dissenting panel of federal judges for the Ninth Circuit on Friday deemed California’s open carry ban in most counties unconstitutional.

    The ruling comes following a challenge by Mark Baird, who the San Francisco Chronicle identifies as a gun owner from Siskiyou County. Baird specifically challenged California’s restriction on open carry in counties with a population greater than 200,000.

    (Video Above: California ammunition background check law is unconstitutional)

    The panel ruled 2-1 in Baird’s favor.

    In favor of Baird, Judge Lawrence VanDyke noted that the restrictions apply to roughly 95% of the state’s population. And for those counties with populations under 200,000, the judge notes that those wanting to open carry need to apply for a license allowing them to do so, but that the ability to secure the license is “unclear.”

    “California admits that it has no record of even one open-carry license being issued, and one potential reason is that California has misled its citizens about how to apply for an open-carry license,” the ruling’s summary states, referring to the opinions of VanDyke and Judge Kenneth K. Lee.

    The panel held that the open carry ban was inconsistent with the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms as applied to states under the Fourteenth Amendment. It also referred to the standard applied in 2022’s New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which established that “historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition.”

    Judge N. Randy Smith, who dissented in part, noted that “open carry is not conduct that is covered by the plain text of the Second Amendment.” Smith also noted that reasoning in the Bruen case allows California to lawfully eliminate one manner of public carry to protect citizens, “so long as its citizens may carry weapons in another manner that allows for self-defense.”

    Smith asserted that because California allows concealed carry, it may restrict open carry.

    While the court primarily sided with Baird, it also rejected his related challenge to California’s licensing requirements in counties with fewer than 200,000 residents. Those counties may issue open-carry permits.

    See the full ruling here.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office slammed the ruling on social media Friday.

    “California just got military troops with weapons of war off of the streets of our cities, but now Republican activists on the Ninth Circuit want to replace them with gunslingers and return to the days of the Wild West. California’s law was carefully crafted to comply with the Second Amendment and we’re confident this decision will not stand,” the Newsom’s office said.

    KCRA 3 has reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Office for comment.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Guns at the public library? Miami-Dade adjusts to Florida’s open-carry era

    Patrons at the Miami-Dade County Main Library at downtown’s Cultural Center sit below a word mural in a wall arch by artist Edward Ruscha.

    Patrons at the Miami-Dade County Main Library at downtown’s Cultural Center sit below a word mural in a wall arch by artist Edward Ruscha.


    MATIAS J. OCNER

    mocner@miamiherald.com

    Days after a Florida appeals court legalized the open carry of firearms statewide, a library manager in Miami Beach realized that would probably mean having to welcome visibly armed visitors to libraries.

    “Here is my understanding of the law as it currently stands in light of the ruling. Neither Miami-Dade County nor [its library system] may prohibit open or concealed carry of firearms on library property,” Bryant Capley wrote in a Sept. 15 email seeking confirmation that open-carry rights would also apply to public libraries.

    That email triggered a response from county attorneys laying out the limited exceptions to Florida’s new open-carry rules as one of the state’s largest local governments rushed to figure out where visible guns would be allowed.

    The email was one of several obtained by the Miami Herald through a records request that show how county administrators began gaming out how a visibly-armed civilian might soon be part of day-to-day life at government buildings.

    The change started with a Sept. 10 ruling by the First District Court of Appeal striking down a statewide ban on the open carry of firearms and declaring that Floridians have a constitutional right to bear arms in public. Days later, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said it was settled law statewide.

    Armed civilians aren’t newly allowed in county facilities. Florida law already allowed people to carry concealed weapons in most public places. But now, county administrators are contemplating the impact of civilian guns being visible.

    In a Sept. 12 email with an “Open Carry of Firearms” subject line, Sharif Masri, a lawyer and security administrator for Miami-Dade, noted to a superior that current security protocols call for police to stop someone from entering a county building with a visible firearm — but now those safeguards were in doubt. He attached an article about the ruling by the First District Court of Appeals.

    “This will likely create anxiety and fear for our employees, contractors and visitors who may see openly carried firearms,” Masri wrote.

    While owners of private buildings can bar the open-carry of firearms, state rules don’t give the same leeway to local governments. But there are some exceptions.

    READ MORE: Publix allows open carry, but what about Miami-area Winn-Dixie, malls, theaters?

    A mix of state and federal rules and court decrees still don’t allow firearms during legislative meetings or in courthouses, airports, restricted areas of seaports, jails or buildings being used as a voting site.

    Federal laws also prohibit the carrying of firearms within school zones. Miami-Dade’s seat of government, the Stephen P. Clark Center, sits within 1,000 feet of a public school, which county administrators say is enough under federal law to restrict gun possession inside .

    For county police, the new legal framework means accepting civilian firearms as a daily part of life and not a source of alarm.

    “Individuals may now openly carry firearms in public,” Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said in a Sept. 30 memo to staff. “There is currently no distinction between handguns and long guns (rifles, shotguns, etc.) in the law, meaning that both may be openly carried.”

    The memo stated that officer safety needs to remain the top priority and said it’s fine for deputies during an interaction with an armed person to tell them to keep their hands visible and away from a firearm.

    To defuse someone with a gun from being combative or on edge, the memo suggested a deputy acknowledge that open-carry is now legal.

    “It may be advisable to acknowledge the law change in Florida that allows an individual to openly carry a firearm,” the memo reads.

    It also offered guidance on a few hypothetical scenarios.

    One involved a restaurant manager asking a patron to not enter with a pistol strapped to a holster. That person could be arrested for trespassing for refusing to leave.

    Another involved a traffic stop with a firearm in the passenger seat. Unless the officer discovers the driver is a felon, there is no legal issue with the firearm. But, the memo says, the officer is free to ask the driver to step outside until the traffic stop is complete.

    “Be sure not to escalate the encounter solely because of the firearm,” the memo reads.

    There was similar guidance for county paramedics and firefighters in a draft memo circulated to county lawyers in late September.

    “Unless an individual presents an immediate threat to personnel, patients or the public,” the draft memo said, “the presence of an openly carried firearm, in and of itself, should not alter the provision of care or professional conduct.”

    For county librarians, accepting the sight of a firearm will also be part of standard protocols in Miami-Dade. While a library close to a school or sharing building space with a courthouse could remain gun-free, the bulk of county libraries are now forced to welcome gun holders.

    “We are not aware of any specific exemption from open carry in public libraries other than for libraries that may fall under statutory exception,” Ray Baker, director of the Miami-Dade’s library system, told the Herald.

    Douglas Hanks

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  • Guns in Florida: Open carry vs. concealed carry. What this sheriff says about both

    A decade after the Florida Supreme Court upheld the state’s ban on open carry in 2015, a state appeals court ruled Sept. 10 that it is unconstitutional.

    In a significant decision, a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal said the open-carry ban is incompatible with the nation’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.” It cited U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Second Amendment issues.

    The change does not go into effect until Sept. 25, and legislative action will be needed to align state law with the decision. While the ruling technically applies only to the 32 north Florida counties of the 1st District, the Florida Sheriffs Association is advising the state’s 67 county sheriffs not to make any arrests for the open carrying of firearms.

    Curious about what this means for you? See video of Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd discussing what this change means for Florida gun owners.

    Watch the video of Florida Sheriff Grady Judd discussing open carry

    What is ‘open carry?’

    “Open carry” means you can publicly carry a legally owned firearm that is kept in plain sight or partially concealed, usually holstered.

    In Florida, openly carrying a firearm is a second-degree misdemeanor with a $500 fine or a maximum of 60 days in jail.

    However, Florida Statute 790.25 provides exemptions for:

    • Law enforcement, corrections officers, game wardens, forest officials, military, and guards

    • Members of firearms clubs while at gatherings or traveling to and from them

    • People who manufacture firearms while they’re on the job

    • Anyone “engaged in fishing, camping, or lawful hunting or going to or returning from a fishing, camping, or lawful hunting expedition”

    • Someone carrying a firearm in a concealed manner may “briefly and openly display” it to someone else, but not in an angry or threatening manner.

    What does ‘concealed carry’ mean?

    “Concealed carry” means you can publicly carry a legally owned firearm that is hidden from view. Concealed carry is currently legal in all 50 states but some states, including Florida before the law was changed in 2023, require special training and a license before it is allowed.

    “Permitless carry” or “constitutional carry” allows both, without permits, licensing or training.

    Is open carry legal in Florida now? Can I start wearing my gun?

    Depends on where you live.

    Several county sheriffs and local police departments in Florida have announced they will not enforce the open carry ban following the decision, along with some police departments, and at least one state attorney said his office will not prosecute violations.

    Legal challenges to the decision are possible, and the state attorney general could choose to appeal, but since Florida Attorney General Jim Uthmeier called the decision a win for the Second Amendment, that seems unlikely.

    “As we’ve all witnessed over the last few days, our God-given right to self-defense is indispensable,” he posted on X.

    Since Ray said that “reasonable regulation” would be preserved, even if open carry becomes the law of the state, restrictions would still exist in courtrooms, courtroom parking lots, meetings of the Florida Legislature, polling places, school and college events, professional athletic events, career centers, and college or university facilities.

    Currently, private property owners may also ban firearms on their property.

    This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida’s open carry ban lifted? Sheriff explains new change

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  • Vaccines and guns: DeSantis talks 2026 legislative agenda



    Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday offered a sneak peek at two priorities for the 2026 legislative session — both of which revamp proposals he unsuccessfully pushed this year: eliminating vaccine mandates and allowing open-carry of firearms.

    During a press conference in Plant City, DeSantis defended his administration’s proposal last week to eliminate from rule and statute all vaccine mandates. State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo made the announcement, arguing mandates drip “with disdain and slavery.”  

    Ladapo acknowledged to CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” over the weekend that the state had conducted no studies before deciding to eliminate vaccine mandates.

    DeSantis on Monday came out strong in defense of Ladapo.

    “He never said he’d take away availability [of vaccines]. Obviously that’s not his position. But I think his position is if you provide information and persuasion, that’s better than coercion.”

    DeSantis, who initially embraced the COVID-19 vaccine and deviated from the federal distribution plan to make sure they were given in Florida first to seniors, fell back on familiar rhetoric about the federal government’s handling of vaccine and mask mandates and government shutdowns, and instead touted Florida’s approach to the pandemic.

    DeSantis alleged that people have grown skeptical of government direction following the pandemic. 

    “When they’re telling you, even if they’re right, I think some people are pushing back against it. It’s going to take time to rebuild trust there. And I think what the surgeon general’s position is, the way you build trust is to provide information and use persuasion rather than try to ostracize people from society if they make a different choice.”

    The DeSantis administration last year proposed legislation (HB 1299) that would have required health care facilities and providers to treat patients regardless of whether they were vaccinated. 

    Although the House agreed to the language, passing HB 1299 by a near-unanimous vote, state Sen. Gayle Harrell, a Republican from Stuart whose late husband had been a physician, warned that the requirement would open doctors to increased liability. Jason Pizzo, a no-party affiliation senator from Hollywood, said requiring a physician to treat unvaccinated patients would run afoul of a 2023 law that allows physicians to withhold care based on conscience.

    The provision was one of two related to vaccines included in the Department of Health (DOH) bill. The initial language would have indefinitely saved from repeal the statutory definition of  “messenger ribonucleic acid vaccine” (mRNA) and along with it a ban on businesses, government entities, and educational institutions from discriminating against people who refuse mRNA vaccines. 

    The Legislature had agreed in 2021 to put the mRNA definition in statute along with the protections for people who wouldn’t take mRNA vaccines, essentially blocking any move in the state from requiring vaccine passports. But the 2021 law expired in four years, or June 2025. The DeSantis administration wanted to extend the mRNA definition and protections indefinitely.

    But the Legislature refused to go along and agreed to keep the definition and subsequent ban in statutes only until June 2027.

    DeSantis criticized the Legislature for not signing off on those provisions in HB 1299.

    Regarding the mNRA definition, DeSantis said: “That’s got to be made permanent. I mean everyone is glad that we did that. Even the far left, I don’t hear them, at least publicly they won’t admit they’re for vaccine passports. It doesn’t make sense. So they need to do that.”

    Regarding requiring physicians and facilities to treat unvaccinated patients the governor said:

    “I get on some levels if someone comes for medical care and  you’re just in private practice. I don’t know if you’re under any obligation to necessarily see everybody — I mean, you’d have to talk to doctors about that. I get there’s a business component to this.

    “But to say that a mom can’t get her daughter in to see a pediatrician because, while they did MMR (measles mumps and rubella) and all the standard vaccines, they didn’t do maybe Hep B or COVID or some of those. To me, that’s discrimination. I mean, that is limiting people’s freedom to do what they think is right for their kids by having these restrictions.”

    Former state senator-turned Lt. Gov. Jay Collins sponsored the companion to HB 1299 in the Senate, SB 1270.

    Gun pitch

    DeSantis on Monday also made a pitch for open carry.

    Florida is one of just a handful of states (and the only red state) that prohibits people from openly carrying firearms in public. 

    DeSantis said that, with Republicans in supermajority control of both chambers of the Florida Legislature, it shouldn’t be a problem getting the bill passed.

    “It’s not something that’s controversial,” he said. “The sky hasn’t fallen in any of those [states which have legalized open carry]. 

    Although the governor called out the House for failing to pass such legislation, in fact it’s been Senate leaders who in recent years have said that they don’t support open carry.

    Senate President Ben Albritton said last year that he’s supported law enforcement his entire life, and stood with them in opposing open carry. He cited opposition from the Florida Sheriffs Association

    However Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey told Luis Valdes, Florida state director of Gun Owners of America, in January that he believes the majority of Florida sheriffs now do support legalizing open carry in Florida.

    Collins also made the case for open carry during Monday’s press conference.

    “We should be an open-carry state,” he said. “I think that we’re on record many times saying that. Hopefully, this is the year. We will continue to fight for those freedoms and those rights, each and every day until we get them all back.”

    Collins never introduced legislation supporting open carry during his three terms as a state senator representing Hillsborough County. 

    Second Amendment advocates have heard DeSantis make similar pleas for the Legislature on open carry in previous years to no success. One such group has called for a special legislative session to get lawmakers on the record about where they stand on this issue.

    “Gun Owners of America is thankful for Gov. DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins supporting open carry,” Valdes said.

    “But we feel that the rubber needs to meet the road, and that a special session needs to be called specifically for open carry and gun rights as a whole, so the Republican supermajority can lay bare where they truly stand on gun rights. If they vote down a special session, then gun owners going into 2026 know which lawmakers actually support and defend the Second Amendment.”

    DeSantis again criticized a Florida law passed in 2018 that bans individuals under the age of 21 from purchasing a long gun. The Florida House has passed a measure repealing that law over the past three legislative sessions, but the Senate has never followed suit. 

    DeSantis and Collins spoke at a sporting goods store in Plant City, where they kicked off the press conference by announcing what they are calling a “ Second Amendment tax free holiday” that takes place until the end of the year.

    That means that all purchases of firearms, ammunition, firearm accessories, crossbows, and accessories for bows and crossbows in Florida are tax free up until December 31. Camping and fishing supply purchases are also tax-free until the remainder of the year.

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    A city spokesperson declined to confirm whether Orlando would reconsider at this time, citing a pending legal case.

    Miami Beach says the state targeted a rainbow-colored crosswalk at Ocean Drive and 12th Street in the city

    ‘Florida’s strong population growth has collided with limited housing supply, pushing rents beyond what many families can afford.’





    Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix and Christine Sexton, Florida Phoenix
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