Parkland families, South Florida leaders warn permitless gun carry would jeopardize public safety

Florida’s move toward allowing people to carry concealed weapons without having to get a permit drew condemnation Monday from South Florida leaders who warned it would jeopardize public safety and lead to more gun violence.

Concern over permitless carry was especially strong among people personally affected by the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre or who were involved in responding to the killing of 17 people and injuring 17 others at the Parkland school.

“This proposal is a step back in time, not just to pre-Stoneman Douglas,” said state Rep. Dan Daley, a northwest Broward Democrat who graduated from the Parkland high school. “It’s a step back in time to the days of the Wild West,” Daley added, where gunslingers could “enforce justice as they saw fit. In my opinion, it doesn’t belong in a civilized society.”

Their objections are unlikely to slow the momentum for permitless carry, a proposal virtually certain to become law, making Florida the 26th state to allow people to carry weapons without a license or review of their backgrounds.

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The leading proponent of the change, House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, said it was an effort to “remove the government permission slip” for people who want to use their God-given rights.

“Central to the idea of freedom is the right that we can defend ourselves against physical attack, as well as defend those that we love. The Constitution did not give us those rights, the creator gave us those rights. But it does put it down on paper in the Second Amendment. And the courts have interpreted that to mean an individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense,” Renner said.

Among those condemning the legislation were U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Parkland, a Stoneman Douglas graduate, state Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, a northwest Broward Democrat who was mayor of Parkland on Feb. 14, 2018, when the massacre took place, Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime, was killed at her high school, and Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed there.

Guttenberg said on Twitter that “many” people in Florida “will be killed as a result of” more guns being carried by people who don’t have to go through the permit process. “There is no freedom from the grave,” he wrote.

With more people carrying guns without restrictions, Florida will become a more dangerous state, Oliver said. “It is actually putting in danger a lot of people.”

Moskowitz, who was a state representative at the time of the massacre, was instrumental in passage of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which raised the age to purchase a rifle from 18 to 21, created a statewide waiting period for long-gun sales and made it easier for law enforcement to seize weapons from people suspected of being dangerous.

“Just before the five-year anniversary of the murders at my high school in Parkland, the Legislature proposes more guns as a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Five years later, the gun reforms in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act still exist today because they work,” Moskowitz said in a written statement. “Republicans in the Florida Legislature who supported the MSD Act were re-elected. When you take steps to keep your community safe, the voters reward and stand by you. This proposal is about politics, it’s ‘Political Carry’ and they know it.”

Permitless carry has powerful backers. The proposal was outlined Monday at a Tallahassee news conference by Renner.

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo soon wrote on Twitter that she agreed with the sponsors. “I stand w/ these warriors, w/ law enforcement & w/ law-abiding Floridians who should not have to ask the gov’t for permission to protect themselves.”

And Gov. Ron DeSantis has spoken positively about the idea. Democrats said he’s motivated by trying to appeal to primary voters in other states who will decide the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, which DeSantis is widely expected to seek.

“This is another effort by Governor Ron DeSantis to appeal to a conservative base as you run for president, and I don’t know about you all but I refuse to be a pawn in the governor’s political ambitions,” state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said.

After last year’s elections, Republicans control a super majority in the Florida Senate and Florida House, which makes Democrats powerless to put up roadblocks to the majority’s wishes.

Two South Florida Republican lawmakers, state Reps. Chip LaMarca of Broward and Mike Caruso of Palm Beach County, didn’t immediately respond to requests for their positions on the proposed legislation.

Gun-rights groups, such as the National Rifle Association, support the legislation. Gun-violence prevention organizations, such as Giffords, founded by former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., who was severely wounded in an assassination attempt, oppose it.

Under current law, people who want to carry concealed weapons need to apply to the state for a license and go through a process that includes passing criminal background checks. More than 2.62 million people had concealed weapons licenses as of Dec. 31, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which administers the program.

In 1988, there were 33,000 licensed weapons carriers.

Lawmakers will consider the proposal (HB 543) during the legislative session that will start March 7.

Under the bill filed by state Rep. Chuck Brannan, R-Macclenny, a person could carry a concealed weapon without a license if they meet the same criteria for obtaining a license: That includes being a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien, being at least 21 years old, not having a physical condition which prevents the safe handling of a weapon or firearm, the person hasn’t been convicted of a felony or been found guilty of a crime relating to controlled substances within a three-year period, or hasn’t been found mentally incapacitated or committed to a mental institution.

They also must have picture identification on them whenever they are carrying a concealed weapon, and show it to a law enforcement officer upon request.

The bill also changes the penalty for carrying or discharging a firearm on school property from a second-degree felony to a second-degree misdemeanor.

It also would allow anyone 18 or older “who is in lawful possession of a handgun or other weapon” to possess such a weapon in a private home if the handgun is “securely encased or otherwise not readily accessible for immediate use.”

Because of their age, they would not be able to carry the weapon on their person.

Law enforcement leaders are divided over the issue.

“We trust people to do the right thing,” said Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis, president of the Florida Sheriff’s Association, who appeared with Renner at the Tallahassee unveiling of the legislation.

“We see incidents everyday where law-abiding citizens that are armed with the ability to protect themselves interrupt active shooters, interrupt armed robberies, are able to protect themselves in all sorts of different scenarios,” he said.

He said the sheriffs organization supports the legislation.

But Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony is strongly opposed to the idea.

“Let’s keep the checks and balance and expand on it. I don’t think we need to reduce our due diligence to safeguard this community,” Tony said said during a Jan. 13 appearance before the Broward Legislative Delegation. A spokeswoman said Monday that Tony’s position “remains the same.”

Tony said he didn’t want to speak for Broward police chiefs “without confirming it, but you know sharing and talking to our chiefs of police here we all have the same sentiment.”

He said he didn’t see “the necessity for mitigating” the permit process, which includes a background check and review to see if an applicant has mental health issues. It seems every time there’s mass shooting, people come back and say there were signs that something would happen, he said. All these things “have a nexus to every single shooting we have in this country, every mass shooting we have,” he said.

Tony was appointed sheriff in 2019 by DeSantis, who cited deficiencies in previous Sheriff Scott Israel’s performance leading up to, during and after the Stoneman Douglas massacre. Tony was elected to a full term as sheriff in 2020.

The Florida Police Chiefs Association has not taken a position on the legislation, said William Stander, a spokesman for the group.

Spokespeople for Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw as well as some large police departments in Boca Raton, Hollywood and West Palm Beach didn’t respond to requests for comment Monday. Fort Lauderdale’s police chief was out of the office and unavailable to comment, a spokesperson said.

During the Democrats’ news conference, Eskamani said many in law enforcement are opposed to the idea of having armed citizens on the streets who haven’t been vetted. “I know there are overwhelmingly members of law enforcement who agree with us, but unfortunately in today’s political climate many are inclined to not speak up,” she said.

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Democrats acknowledged they had little ability to affect the outcome.

“We are living in a unique situation in the Legislature where the leadership is able to do what it wants with [the] super-majority,” said state Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Palm Beach County Democrat. She urged the public to voice their concerns to lawmakers.

She said Democrats would push for alternatives.

“We’re not just the caucus of ‘No.’ We do have comprehensive legislation that would address many issues of safe gun ownership,” Skidmore said. “It’s a two-pronged approach, you know, it’s both reactionary and proactive on our parts. So I think that that is the message that we want you to have and we want our constituents to have that there is an alternative and we have proposed it.”

Hunschofsky said the Legislature should be focusing on responsible gun ownership, which would include “universal background checks, safe storage, education, expanded risk protection orders, and regulating ghost guns.”

Both sides carefully chose their words to advance their positions.

Renner and other Republicans used the term “constitutional carry,” which is terminology conservatives who favor expanding gun rights use.

Art Thomm, Florida state director for the National Rifle Association, said in a prepared statement that the gun-rights group “looks forward to welcoming Florida into the fold of freedom that constitutional carry provides.”

Democrats said that’s a misleading term.

“This is not constitutional carry. This is untrained carry. We have to be very clear and specific as to what the legislation actually does, and that is to remove the training requirement and you will no longer have the check,” Hunschofsky said. “I think it’s really important how we talk about this.”

Orlando Sentinel staff writers Jeffrey Schweers and Skyler Swisher contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press and the News Service of Florida.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com, on Twitter @browardpolitics and on Post.news/@browardpolitics.