JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As of Monday, Florida is the 26th state to enact permitless carry. The newly signed law does not sit well with some Jacksonville mothers, advocates and organizations.
One group, Moms Demand Action, led a rally at Duval County Public School's headquarters on Tuesday. Its objective was to voice opposition to the law, something the organization had done all across the state.
Moms Demand Action is particularly upset because the new law comes shortly after a school-mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.
"Americans are fed up with gun violence continuing to shake our nation to its core," Katie Hataway said, who is member of Jaksonville's MDA. She organized Tuesday's rally at DCPS. "We are fed up with our lawmakers. We are fed up that guns are the number one killer of children and teens in this country."
On Monday, Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 543 into law. His office said the law will strengthen Floridians' Second Amendment rights.
Permitless carry, or constitutional carry, will allow people to have concealed weapons without a government issued permit. A report from NBC says DeSantis held a private signing ceremony with the lead sponsors of the bill and gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association.
First Coast News asked the Governor's office why the ceremony was not public and if it was true that weapons were not allowed at any of his events.
The governor's deputy press secretary replied, "The governor strongly supports the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms, and we are proud that Florida put Constitutional Carry in the books."
There have been several occasions when First Coast News covered events held by DeSantis, attendees were checked with metal detector wands. The Florida Governor is expected to be a convention key-note speaker at the Utah Republican Party State Convention, April 22. One report shows Utah's GOP chairman will allow magnetometers to be used for his appearance.
In March, a poll from the University of North Florida reveals there was bi-partisan agreement against permitless carry.
Sixty-seven strongly opposed it, with 45% of those being registered Republicans. First Coast News reached out to the National Rifle Association and mentioned Moms Demand Action's concerns of increased gun violence in communities with permitless carry.
The NRA responded.
"The empirical evidence from the 25 other states that have constitutional carry prove those concerns are unfounded. Rational minds understand that these laws only help law-abiding Americans because headlines remind us that violent criminals have no regard or respect for any law. Furthermore, the same people who oppose constitutional carry are the same people who hysterically predicted shootouts at high noon on Florida streets when Right-to-Carry was enacted decades ago. Of course, those were false predictions.”
The permit less carry law is supposed to go into effect July 1.