‘Ron DeSantis Is Putting Us in Danger’: Gun Safety Activists Criticize Open Carry Bill

Florida currently requires 1,200 hours of training to obtain a license to cut hair. If permitless carry becomes law, the state will require zero hours of training for people to carry a loaded firearm in public.

With Florida’s Legislative session now underway, Giffords Florida, the gun violence prevention organization continues to call out the state’s Republican governor for his dangerous permitless carry bill currently being considered in the state Legislature. 

“Governor DeSantis and the Florida legislature are pushing forward a reckless bill that will allow almost anyone to carry a gun in public without training or a background check. Fistfights would quickly turn into gun fights and gun violence will undoubtedly rise in our state,” said Giffords Florida State Director Samantha Barrios.

A Clear and Present Danger

In their arguments, the organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, herself a survivor of gun violence, pointed to what recent studies have found about accessibility to guns and violence, including:

• Florida requires 1,200 hours of training to obtain a license to cut hair and 240 hours of training to become a licensed manicurist. If Florida passes permitless carry, the state will require zero hours of training for people to carry a loaded firearm in public.
• Weakening public carry laws is associated with a 13–15% increase in violent crime rates, as well as an 11% increase in rates of homicides committed with handguns.

RELATED: Una Dura Realidad: Gun Violence Disproportionally Affects Black and Latino Communities. Here’s What Needs to Be Done.

• When states weakened their concealed carry laws and removed provisions like live fire training and violent misdemeanor prohibitions—both of which Florida currently has—they experienced a 22% increase in gun assaults and a 35% increase in gun homicides.
• The current law ensures that people with a history of violent or risky behavior cannot carry firearms in public places. Between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, 7,605 Florida residents with a disqualifying history were denied concealed carry permits. Permit-less carry would strip these important provisions.

‘Ron DeSantis Is Putting Us in Danger’

To promote the message, Giffords Florida has launched a campaign of bilingual radio and digital ads against House Bill 543. 

“This [bill] would make it easier for criminals to carry guns. At concerts. Sporting events. Your grocery store. Your neighborhood. Fistfights would turn into gunfights. And the only way to tell the bad guy with a gun from the good guy with a gun? After it’s too late. Ron DeSantis is putting us in danger,” warns the campaign.

RELATED: ‘You’re Putting People in Harm’s Way’: Boricua Sen. Torres Blasts DeSantis’ Open-Carry Gun Law

Sen. Victor (Vic) Torres, Jr, a Boricua Democrat representing south Orange and north Osceola counties, who was in law enforcement for 20 years, agrees. 

“[This bill] is so dangerous. You just don’t let anybody buy a gun and carry it on them and say ‘you don’t have to have a permit. You don’t have to have training. You don’t have to go through a background check.’ Things are too dangerous right now in our communities,” Torres told Floricua.

Floridians seem to agree wholeheartedly. A Giffords poll shows that 61% of Floridians and 71% of Hispanic voters oppose permitless carry. It stands to reason, as Latinos are disproportionally affected.

“[Gun violence] has a disproportionate impact on urban communities of color, like Blacks and Hispanics,” said former Democratic Florida Rep. Carlos G. Smith.

“Mass violence has robbed my generation of our childhoods and cut many of our lives short,” said Gen Z Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, who works in Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, require background checks for all gun sales, and to end the corruption of the gun lobby, among other measures.

See the digital ads HERE. 

Listen to the Spanish radio ad HERE.