Uthmeier’s positions on gun rights praised by some, but misfires with others

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s aggressive intervention in support of Second Amendment rights has won him the hearts and endorsements of fellow gun rights advocates since being appointed to his position last year.

But it’s alienated others, including Steven Leskovich, a Port Charlotte Republican who had his own sights set on being attorney general until last week, when he dropped out of the Republican primary, effectively making Uthmeier the GOP nominee this fall.

But Leskovich didn’t endorse fellow Republican Uthmeier when he dropped out of the race. Instead, he threw his support behind Democrat José Javier Rodríguez, who hopes to defeat Uthmeier in November.

“As a life-long Republican and as a former Republican candidate for Florida Attorney General, I can only support a candidate that truly understands the rule of law, truly understands law and order, truly understands separation of powers, truly understands how to protect all Floridians, and has actual courtroom experience,” Steven Leskovich says in a written statement issued Tuesday by the Rodríguez campaign.

“There is only one candidate that meets these requirements,” the statement continues. “As a result, I am endorsing José Javier Rodriguez for Florida Attorney General.”

Rodriguez, a former state senator who went on to serve as assistant Labor secretary under President Joe Biden, wants to be the first Democrat elected Florida attorney general since Bob Butterworth won his fourth term in 1998.

And he’s “honored” to have Leskovich’s support.

“Steve has dedicated his career to the law and to public service and I appreciate his confidence in our campaign,” Rodriguez said in a statement to the Phoenix. “People of principle, regardless of party, agree that Floridians need an Attorney General tied to the Constitution, guided by ethics and committed to serving all Floridians. That’s the kind of leadership I will bring as Attorney General and why I’m honored to have Steve’s support.”

Calls to Uthmeier’s campaign and political committee supporting his campaign went unreturned Wednesday.

Leskovich serves as interim city attorney of Punta Gorda in southwest Florida. He narrowly was elected to the Charlotte County Airport Authority in November 2024.

In a phone interview with the Phoenix, Leskovich said he doesn’t agree much politically with Rodríguez, but “he and I understand there is a personal side to being a lawyer and there is a professional side to being a lawyer.”

“Mr. Uthmeier does not understand the difference between the two,” Leskovich continued. “Everything to him is personal. And he has to bring his political ideologies and his personal beliefs into the practice of law, and that is how lawyers get in trouble with the Florida Bar. Unfortunately, he can’t get into trouble with the Florida Bar, because he is a state Cabinet member.” 

Uthmeier will go before the voters for the first time as a candidate in November, having been appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February 2025 to replace former Attorney General Ashley Moody. The governor appointed Moody to U.S. Senate to replace Marco Rubio, who had been tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as secretary of state.

A Georgetown University Law Center graduate in 2014, Uthmeier served at one point as senior adviser and counsel to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross during Trump’s first term as president before joining the governor’s office as deputy general counsel in 2019.

He was named DeSantis’ general counsel the following year.

In 2021, Uthmeier was named chief of staff, although he took a leave of absence in 2023 to manage the governor’s failed presidential campaign.

Leskovich’s concerns with Uthmeier

Leskovich said he’s particularly aggrieved by how Uthmeier has handled Second Amendment cases since he was appointed AG by his former boss.

The day after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld a state law that prohibits people under age 21 from purchasing long guns, Uthmeier declared on social media that the 2018 law was unconstitutional. He added that if the National Rifle Association wanted to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, his office wouldn’t defend the law.

In September 2025, he announced that he wouldn’t challenge a decision by the Florida First District Court of Appeal striking down the state’s 1987 ban on openly carrying firearms.

In March, the AG’s office argued in a legal filing that a Florida law that bans all convicted felons from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, because it applies to “nondangerous” convicted felons.

More recently, Uthmeier last week joined with Florida Department of Law Enforcement head Mark Glass in asking the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to declare unconstitutional the state’s three-day waiting period for gun purchases, approved by Florida voters as an amendment to the constitution in 1990.

“I own a plethora of firearms and I am a huge Second Amendment advocate, but the Legislature has passed laws. The governor has passed laws. And James Uthmeier believes that he has the ability to just say, ‘This law is unconstitutional, and we’re not going to enforce it,’ ” Leskovich said.

“That is not only immoral, that is impractical. That is malpractice. That is a breach of your ethical duties to defend the laws of the state of Florida. That is up to the Legislature to decide we now believe a law is unconstitutional,” he continued. “It is up to the courts to decide a law is unconstitutional. You can’t just say, ‘It’s unconstitutional because I believe it’s unconstitutional, therefore we’re not going to enforce it.’  That’s taking politics into the practice of law, and that’s a breach of your ethical duty to defend the laws of the state of Florida.”

‘Hypocrisy’

Uthmeier has unilaterally declared other laws to be unconstitutional.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year, he announced in an advisory opinion that he wouldn’t enforce approximately 80 state laws that he alleged were unconstitutionally race-based. That prompted a furious response from Black Democrats, with Sen. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, saying that his unilateral decision was tantamount to disobeying the laws that he is required to uphold.

Gov. DeSantis removed Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren in 2022 and Orange and Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell in 2023 for allegedly not following the law. In Warren’s case, Desantis said the role of a state attorney is to “apply the law and enforce the law, not pick and choose which laws you like and which laws you don’t like.”

“The hypocrisy of the governor and flunkies is off the chart,” Warren told the Phoenix earlier this year. “They’ve falsely accused others of selectively enforcing the law while treating the Constitution like a suggestion box. It’s abhorrent to lecture us about the rule of law while rewriting it in crayon.”

Second Amendment support

Second Amendment groups are championing Uthmeier’s initiatives, however. Last week, the group Gun Owners of America and its Hispanic offshoot, Fuerza 2A, “proudly” endorsed Uthmeier for election in November.

“From open carry to self-defense to stopping unlawful attacks on gun ownership, James Uthmeier has built a record that Second Amendment supporters can trust,” Luis Valdes, Florida state director of Gun Owners of America, said in a news release.