Gun Owners Of America Filing Suit, Describes Florida Ban on Open Carry as ‘Blatant Infringement’

Gun Owners of America (GOA) is filing suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, describing the state’s ban on the open carry of firearms as “blatant infringement.”

On April 3, 2023, Breitbart News reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation making Florida the 26th constitutional carry state in the Union. However, unlike so many other states–wherein constitutional carry means you can carry open or concealed for self-defense without a permit–in Florida, constitutional carry only applies to carrying concealed.

Openly carrying a firearm for self-defense remains prohibited in Florida, and GOA is filing suit to challenge that ban.

FOX News obtained of a copy of GOA’s complaint, which says in part, “Despite its reputation as a largely gun-friendly state, Florida inexplicably continues to prohibit the peaceable carrying of firearms in an open and unconcealed manner.”

The complaint continues, “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.”

GOA will argue that Florida’s ban on open carry for self-defense cannot survive the Bruen (2022) test, contending it falls outside what has been historic tradition throughout America’s history.

To GOA’s point, on May 20, 2021, Breitbart News pointed out that South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed legislation making the Palmetto State the 46th open carry state in the nation.

Texas was the 45th state to allow open carry of handguns for self-defense. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed open carry legislation on June 13, 2015. In the lead-up to signing the bill, Abbott said, “Let me briefly follow up on a word I mentioned a moment ago–liberty. In a single word, it encapsulates what the country stands for, what Texas symbolizes. I will expand liberty in Texas by signing a law that makes Texas the 45th state to allow Open Carry.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.