Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is pressing Florida’s Republican supermajority to repeal various gun controls enacted following the February 14, 2018, Parkland shooting, including the state’s red flag law.
On February 1, 2025, Breitbart News noted DeSantis was urging state GOP legislators to pass legislation to allow the open carry of handguns in Florida.
He is still urging legislators to take up open carry while subsequently calling for the repeal of numerous extant controls which were enacted in 2018. The Tallahassee Democrat pointed out that specific gun controls DeSantis wants to see repealed include the increased minimum purchase age requirements for long guns and the red flag law.
DeSantis believes the state’s Republican supermajority has not accomplished what it should have accomplished, as it relates to protecting an broad exercise of Second Amendment rights in the state.
FLASHBACK — DeSantis Expresses Fury: “Parkland Killer … Deserves Death Penalty”
He said, “I can tell you that we, in spite of us saying we’re the Free State, in spite of us being like, ‘Oh, we’re this Republican conservative bastion,’ we’ve definitely lagged on that issue.”
Florida Politics quoted DeSantis saying, “The free state of Florida has not exactly led the way on protecting Second Amendment rights. We need to be a strong Second Amendment state.”
House Democrat Leader Fentrice Driskell responded to DeSantis’s push by defending the gun controls, saying, “It seems to me that we’re breaking our promise to the parents and the students of Parkland. (The changes) would be awful for our law enforcement. We absolutely want to keep them safe as they do their job. I was very troubled by his comments.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly:
