Rights Destruction: A Florida Gun Rights Case Update

February 22nd 2015

A Florida Gun Rights Case Update

You might be forgiven for thinking that the "Gunshine" state, Florida, was fairly well up there on gun rights. But it appears not if a recent court case ruling is anything to go by. With gun rights it sometimes seems all too often as if it's a case of "one step forward, but two steps back", the opposite of what it should be.

Florida Carry. 2/19/15
Florida 4th District Court of Appeal Rules Right to Bear Arms Outside the
Home Can be Banned and Then Licensed Back to You

Yesterday the 4th District Court of Appeals issued a ruling in Norman v. State, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 2178.

The Right to Bear Arms has now been completely Infringed in Florida. That fundamental right enumerated in both the Florida Constitution and the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is no-longer your birthright. In its place is a license that you must pay the government to possess.

The court correctly recognized that the right to bear arms outside the home does exist, then it went on to eviscerate the right in favor of the privilege of a license that you must pay for.

Don't have enough money to pay for your right? Tough, you can't have it unless you pay up.

Get arrested while legally carrying? Tough, the Florida Concealed Carry License serves as merely a defense to the crime of carrying any type of firearm. Every time you carry you are breaking the law, tell it to the judge that you have the affirmative defense of a license and that it was only a concealed handgun.

Have a stalker and need to exercise your right now? Tough, you have to wait up to 90 days. Unless there is an administrative issue with your fingerprints or background check, in that case the timeline for issuance is suspended almost indefinitely.

Have any type of firearm other than a handgun? Tough, the right to bear arms only applies to handguns in Florida.

Carrying a handgun concealed and it becomes accidently exposed for a few minutes before you notice? Tough, you're going to jail because the exposure wasn't brief enough to satisfy the officer on the scene of your crime.

The list goes on and on...

There are numerous legal and technical defects with the court's order. In coming days we (Florida Carry) will ask the court to rehear the case and correct it's ill considered decision. Should the 4th DCA fail to correct it's ruling. We will take Dale Norman's case to the Florida Supreme Court.

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