Stay Connected   | Let your Amazon shopping support Florida Carry's work | | | | SB 616 - Courthouse Carry and SB 646 - Open Carrying to be heard by Senate Judiciary Committee | | Bills scheduled for hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow, March 7th, at 4 pm. Contact Legislators NOW! | SB 616 - Courthouse carry, does NOT authorize carry in courthouses. This good bill authorizes courthouses to temporarily store those firearms carried lawfully while licensees are conducting business at courthouses.
On occasion, licensees must visit a prohibited place like a courthouse. Whether it be for jury duty or as a result of a summons or subpoena, these visits are often mandatory. This leaves the licensee with a dilemma - leave the firearm at home and be unarmed during the entire period, or leave the firearm in one's vehicle and risk it being stolen. Neither is acceptable.
The bill simply provides that a courthouse is still a prohibited place for carry, however a licensee may present his firearm to courthouse security personnel for temporary storage during the carrier's visit. Upon completion of the visit, the firearm is to be returned to the licensee.
FLORIDA CARRY ENTHUSIASTICALLY SUPPORTS THIS GOOD BILL!
SB 646 - Open carrying, decriminalizes temporarily exposing one's firearm for licensees, and prohibits law enforcement from arresting licensed individuals who are lawfully carrying concealed and whose firearm becomes temporarily visible.
A serious problem since the 2011 gutting of SB 234, the original open carry bill, this bill also removes the ambiguous "brief exposure" language and replaces it with "temporarily and openly displayed". Coupled with the decriminalization and prohibiting arrest of licensees, the bill is a positive despite open carry remaining prohibited. FLORIDA CARRY SUPPORTS THIS GOOD BILL!
| An important note on contacting your legislators: We cannot stress enough the necessity of telling legislators how you feel they should vote. During the legislative sessions, we issue Action Alerts asking our members and supporters to take a few moments to contact legislators. Email addresses, subject line, and sample body are all included in these alerts to allow cut and paste into your email client.
Please take the few seconds it takes to send an email when you receive an Action Alert from Florida Carry. The failure or success of a bill can hinge on that simple act.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
| | Please, take a few moments to ask the committee members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to support SB 616 and SB 646.
Remember that whether you contact the committee members either by email or by phone, to be courteous and respectful above all else. Be sure to keep your message brief, and thank them for their time.
In the subject line put: SUPPORT SB-646 & SB-616 in Senate Judiciary Committee
(Copy and Paste All email addresses into the "Send To" box)
Sample Body:
Dear Senator,
Far too often when considering firearm related bills, opponents fail to recognize that licensees are a distinct demographic from felons/criminals. Between 1987 and 2012, over two million carry licenses were issued by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Licensing Division. During that period, only 6/1000ths of 1 percent (168) licenses were revoked for a crime involving a firearm.
The Legislature placed its trust and faith in the licensing system, and in the Florida citizens who choose to lawfully carry. Licensees have not only met, but far exceeded those expectations. It is well beyond time the Legislature recognizes that statistically documented fact, and relieves unnecessary burdens on the licensee.
Please support both SB 616 and 646.
Respectfully,
|  | We need your help! Florida self-defense laws are under unprecedented attack. Florida Carry is fighting back hard in local government, the courts, and the state legislature but cash and volunteer action is necessary to support this important work. Please donate or Join Today. | | | | | | About Us: | Florida Carry, Inc. is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to advancing the fundamental rights of all Floridians to keep and bear arms for self-defense as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Sections 2 and 8 of the Florida Constitution. Florida Carry stands to represent our supporters, members, and millions of defensive arms owners of Florida. We are not beholden to any national organization's agenda that may compromise that mission. Florida Carry works tirelessly toward striking down ill-conceived gun and weapons control laws that have been proven to provide safe havens to criminals and be deadly to law-abiding citizens. | | | |
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