Let’s bite the bullet and talk about guns. Open carry of legally-owned and registered firearms is permitted in Florida as of Sept. 25. Now you can publicly carry your firearm.
This news stirred up many emotions for me. The primary ones were hurt and disappointment. I am against this decision. Now is not the time to relax gun laws. There is room for responsible gun ownership in Florida, but open carry laws are not the solution.
As someone who became an adult during a time of highly publicized incidents of gun violence, including the 2018 Parkland High School shooting, this feels like a slap in the face. In a country where guns continue to be a top cause of death for children, gun reform should be a top priority for the country.
It feels like guns have more rights than people. It feels distasteful. Gun reform is necessary, but not clear cut in the way it should be executed. The right to bear arms should not supersede people’s right to live peacefully without gun-related anxiety.
Guns and America are intertwined, with the right to bear arms enshrined in the Bill of Rights. In 2024, Floridians purchased nearly half a million guns, putting the state at number two in the country for gun purchases that year, only behind Texas. Roughly 40% of adults in the U.S. report living in a house with a firearm. Many of them cited personal protection as their primary reason for gun ownership.
The argument for personal safety is one I can understand. There are plenty of news stories in which people are victims of violent crime. But both in Florida and nationally, the incidents of violent crime have been steadily declining, according to the Florida Department of Law enforcement. In 2003, Miami-Dade County had 9383 incidents of violent crime as opposed to 5325 incidents in 2023.
Violent crime in Miami-Dade County is higher than the national average, but, this is still a safer time to live in the Sunshine State than previous decades. Most people do not find this downward trend comforting or keep this information top of mind. I certainly don’t reflect on statistics of relative safety when I am walking alone to my car at night, in a dimly lit area I am unfamiliar with.
I recall the aftermath of the Sandy Hook and Parkland shootings. There was a call for reform and many thoughts and prayers. There was also a lot of rhetoric opposed to gun reform, arguing that a “good guy” with a gun could have stopped these “bad people” with guns. That isn’t true.
In 2022, Uvalde, Texas experienced its deadliest school shooting to date. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed as nearly 400 trained policemen waited an hour before subduing the gunman. Having a gun doesn’t automatically empower someone to take immediate action during dangerous scenarios.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, “Nine times as many people report being victimized by a person with a gun than being protected by a gun.” There aren’t a lot of “good guys” using firearms for defense purposes compared to those using them wrongfully.
Florida is one of the most permissive states when it comes to guns. In 2023 Florida allowed for permitless carry. This means that if you meet eligibility requirements (21 or older, no felony convictions, etc) you are allowed to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Open carry does seem to be the natural progression in terms of gun legislation.
While the law does outline who can own and carry a firearm, there is no current requirement, though there was previously, for someone to be trained on how to use said firearm. A lack of training could lead to individuals who don’t know how to assess their situation, surroundings, or safety having easy access in public to deadly weapons. This doesn’t increase their safety, it endangers that of others.
Another issue is there is no clear cut definition for “danger.” Before Florida allowed for open carry, one such law was “Stand Your Ground.” This law allows for people to protect their home from intruders using “reasonable force” which can also be “deadly force”.
“Stand Your Ground” was the defense famously used in the trial of George Zimmerman, the man who killed Trayvon Martin. Martin was walking through Zimmerman’s neighborhood after getting skittles and tea for his younger sister. He committed no crime, aside from being Black and wearing a hoodie, in a neighborhood outside of his own in Sanford, Fla.
Zimmerman was a volunteer for the neighborhood watch. He was not a police officer. He was a civilian who deemed Martin as suspicious and confronted him before shooting him, even after 911 dispatch told him to stop following Martin. Martin lost his life because someone who was overzealous decided that he was a threat.
What happens when your “good guy with a gun” is Black?
Johnny Hurley was a Black private citizen living in Arvada, Colo. Hurley had taken it upon himself to learn how to safely handle a firearm. In 2021 he experienced an active shooter event while shopping. At least one police officer was killed. Hurley used his handgun to fatally wound the shooter before disarming the gunman’s weapon. In the confusion, police wrongfully shot and killed Hurley.
While there was no confirmation of race playing a role in the shooting, one can’t help but wonder.
The good news is, in theory, open carry does not mean a free-for-all. There are still areas in which guns are not permitted such as schools, athletic events and courthouses. I am relatively confident that those with good intentions will uphold these rules. However, the relaxing of gun laws makes the presence of guns more palatable. It becomes easier to stop viewing guns as deadly weapons and that can only lead to more dangerous outcomes.
In a time where mass shootings are becoming more common, now is not the time to relax gun control measures.
Guns shouldn’t be a casual addition to your morning “Phone. Wallet. Keys.” checklist. Instead, firearms need to be treated as the deadly devices that they are. A gun is representative of a casket that needs to be ordered, a life that was taken or irreparably altered. They are reminders that our lives can be taken on a whim by someone else, and I certainly don’t need that reminder on a Wednesday afternoon as I am walking down the street.