On Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ work table is a hot potato. A bill authorizing the state’s use of concealed weapons without the need for a permit awaits your signature before it is signed into law.
Bill HB 543, to allow anyone to carry concealed weapons without the need for a background check or training to learn how to use them, was approved with 76 votes in favor and 32 against by the state House of Representatives during a legislative session.
This has been possible because Republicans control the state legislature. The idea came from the governor more than a year ago as part of his effort to recruit votes from the extreme right for his candidacy for the presidency in the 2024 elections.
With this measure, those who wish to carry a concealed weapon will hardly need an identity document. It doesn’t even matter what state it was issued in.
After the new law is promulgated, Floridians will no longer attend, as up to now, a mandatory training course for the handling of weapons. Nor will a background check be necessary when buying a gun.
Those obligations would disappear, although the necessary requirements to buy a weapon would remain, such as being over 21 years of age and not having been convicted of a serious crime, among others.
“This is a danger in all its dimensions because it takes away from the authorities the initiative to control, investigate and control the use of weapons. Worse still, you have to wait for a crime to occur, such as the murder of someone, for the bearer of that hidden weapon to be placed outside the law, imprisoned and prosecuted, ”he explained to OnCuba ACLU attorney Michelle Jackson.
DeSantis, who is expected to announce his run for the White House in 2024, has promoted several laws attractive to conservative voters in recent months, related to sexual issues, reading freedom and parental control over the school curriculum of their children. children.
The governor confirmed this Thursday that he will sign the bill. “So far, 25 states allow that (concealed possession of guns without a license),” DeSantis said during a visit to a Georgia gun store as part of a promotional tour for his memoir. “In Florida next week we will hit 26,” he added.
The approval of this project comes just three days after the shooting that left six dead in a Nashville school, including three 9-year-old children, a tragedy that reopened a recurring debate in the United States on how to avoid mass shootings, an issue that clashes with opposition from Republicans, staunch defenders of the constitutional right to bear arms.
