Attorney General James Uthmeier issues guidance on Open Carry
Staff report
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Attorney General James Uthmeier issued guidance to prosecutors and law enforcement after last week’s decision by Florida’s First District Court of Appeals in McDaniels v. State.
The guidance, shown below, states that the 1st DCA’s decision is binding on all Florida’s trial courts and is “now the law of the State.”
However, Uthmeier cautions that law enforcement officers can continue to police those who “exhibit [firearms] in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner” in public, and laws that currently prohibit the carrying of a firearm — open or concealed — in certain locations are still in effect. He added, “The same holds true for private property owners, who maintain the long-standing legal prerogative to compel individuals carrying firearms to leave their premises. Any person carrying a firearm who violates the private property owner’s warning to depart will be committing armed trespass, a third-degree felony.”
Darn….now I have to go shopping for a new outfit as my new wearable accessory doesn’t match. Oh the humanity!
An armed society is a polite society. I think the visual presence of guns on law abiding citizens may help to thwart senseless crimes however I will still choose to carry concealed most of the time. Sometimes the element of surprise is more useful than slightly quicker draw times.
Does this mean you can carry concealed unless the property owner specifically asks you to leave? Or does someone carrying concealed commit a third degree felony if they merely enter a commercial building that has a sign posted forbidding guns and knives? I may have to change hair salons…. And bank. I will not disarm for a leftist business owner. Because the left MURDERED CHARLIE KIRK IN FRONT OF HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN.
Private businesses may bar you from bringing in a firearm either concealed or openly carried – and that is their right as a private business. But it is not illegal. The most they can do is ask you to leave – once again, as a private business- that is their right.
I carry concealed and I go by the motto “concealed is concealed” and nobody knows that I am carrying.
No one knows whether or not I am armed. I prefer it that way. I wonder if the same areas where concealed carry is currently prohibited, specifically bars, will be under the same rules for open carry. I hope so. A CCP holder knows the rules. It may get complicated.
I am not a big fan of open carry and don’t understand why anyone would do so except under special circumstance. It borders on brandishing and increases the possibility of a bad guy taking a good guy’s pistol. I will continue to let no one know whether or not I am armed.