Guns

Floridians no longer need a permit to carry a concealed firearm, and gun owners are overwhelmingly opting out of the safety and educational training once required for a license.Firearms instructors are seeing a dramatic drop in student sign ups for such courses, which teach safety and explain the state’s laws about where and how gun owners can lawfully carry pistols and legally use them in self defense.

A proposal to ban merchant codes for gun and ammunition sales in Florida is ready for the full House. It’s already been approved by the Senate, largely along party lines.

Florida lawmakers Wednesday reached the halfway point in this year’s 60-day legislative session. The House and Senate have passed high-profile bills involving issues such as affordable housing and school vouchers, but major issues remain to be resolved.

The concealed weapons bill Governor DeSantis signed Monday will do away with a decades-old licensing process, which has included requiring that people undergo firearms training and background screening to carry concealed weapons. The bill will require people carrying concealed firearms to have valid identification and “display such identification upon demand by a law enforcement officer.”

Two House Republicans filed a proposal this week that would lower the minimum age from 21 to 18 to buy rifles and other "long" guns.

Republican state lawmakers have filed legislation that would allow people to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

Passengers have brought 793 guns to TSA checkpoints across Florida this year. Nearly every one of the guns confiscated was loaded and most had ammunition chambered.

Tuesday’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas and the mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York less than two weeks ago have reignited efforts among Florida Democratic lawmakers to push for tougher firearm laws in the sunshine state. We hear from representatives of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Prevent Gun Violence Florida, Inc., about the current status of gun regulations in Florida and stalled efforts at the federal level to impose stricter background check requirements for gun purchases.

While saying the case “falls squarely in the middle of a constitutional no man’s land,” a federal judge has upheld a 2018 Florida law that prevents people under age 21 from buying guns.