Citizens’ gun rights during local state of emergency would be restored under bill passed by House

A proposal that would prohibit local governments from suspending the sale of guns and ammunition during a declared state of emergency has been approved in the Florida House.

The measure (HB 6025) sponsored by Brevard County Republicans Monique Miller and Debbie Mayfield, would repeal an existing state law that prohibits the sale of firearms and ammunition during a local state of emergency.

The bill would also repeal the prohibition against anyone intentionally possessing a firearm in a public place during a local emergency.

South Florida Democratic Rep. Mike Gottlieb said he had voted for the bill in an earlier committee meeting, but that upon reading the actual statute that it would repeal (Section 870.044) was now opposing it.

“What we’re saying is that if there’s a riot or public disturbance we’re just going to let everybody sort of willy-nilly, without the controls that we have in place, get their firearms, and that’s adding fuel to that riot,” he said. “That’s adding fuel to that fire.”

Gottlieb added that he believed it carried “wide-ranging implications that could endanger us in society.”

But Republicans insisted it was more than an appropriate change.

“When our communities are ripped by unrest or emergency, when the lights go out and the sirens grow louder and the sense of order is fading, that is precisely the moment when Floridians deserve the freedom to defend themselves, their children, their homes, and their livelihoods,” said Seminole County Republican Rachel Plakon.

“When I came up here, I promised my constituents that one of the most important things that I would do is I would find laws that violate their constitutional rights, and I would get rid of them,” said Miller. “This is one of the most egregious that I found.”

The measure passed 86-28 on Wednesday, mostly along party lines.

The Senate version (SB 952), sponsored by Hernando County Republican Blaise Ingoglia, has passed all of its committees and is awaiting a floor vote in that chamber.