JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UPDATE: Clay County to start enforcing loud music law, will ticket drivers
How loud is too loud? That's the question that could result in a ticket from JSO starting in July. The Sheriff's Office announced that they would "once again" enforce a state statute that says music from your car can't be easily heard from 25 feet away.
It was business as usual at Daddy O's Discount Stereo in Orange Park. Despite JSO's announcement, Sal Urb is still installing a new subwoofer in his truck.
"Some people abuse it," says Urb. "I mean, it's about having a good time with it and not abusing it. I hear some people that are very loud, I'm not."
Christopher Shults has been installing stereo systems since 1982 and says music doesn't need to be very loud to be heard from 25 feet away.
"It's actually quite moderate," says Shults, "it only takes roughly 110 decibels at that distance to be audible."
When this law is once again enforced, starting July 1st, Shults isn't worried about a downturn in business at Daddy O's.
"Honestly, I don't think it would affect it to a degree that would be relevant," says Shults, "people are going to do what they do. It's not illegal to have it, it's illegal to present it in public at a certain level. It's hard to regulate that level."
Could this law be abused?
Jacksonville lawyer John Phillips has represented multiple clients who were killed in cases related to loudly played music. One of those clients was the family of Jordan Davis, who was a 17 year old when he was murdered at a Jacksonville gas station following an argument about the volume of the music in his vehicle. In response to JSO's tweet about enforcement of the statute Phillips released a statement that reads:
“In addition to being irreconcilably vague, this law is ripe for racially biased enforcement,” Phillips said from his Jacksonville, Florida law office. “Further, the Florida Supreme Court has already been critical of the prior version of this law. It’s why JSO said ‘once again,’ as the prior version was held unconstitutional. It held 316.3045(1)(a) was invalid because it was an unreasonable restriction on the freedom of expression; (2) held that the statute was unconstitutionally overbroad, but not unconstitutionally vague; and (3) found that section 316.3045(3) was not severable from the remainder of the statute.”
"Police officers aren’t constitutional scholars- far from," Phillips said. "Making them enforce an illegal or poorly written law gives them a license to use it and abuse it. One of several concerns is police pulling over people of color for subjectively loud music and then finding evidence of other crimes or creating a confrontation that could end in tragedy- over music. The First Amendment doesn’t allow this restriction and the Florida Supreme Court has said it clearly.”
So in the meantime, crank your music at your own risk. Apparently, JSO will be listening.