Open carry opposition shouldn’t–and doesn’t–mean open season on the Second Amendment. But it’s the sort of partisan language we’ve come to expect. And, yes, that’s on you, National Rifle Association and your key legislative surrogates.
But if we must traffic in “open-season” rhetoric, how about open season on common-sense deficits? Or open season on disingenuous arguments?
Bob Buckhorn, Tampa’s gun-owning mayor, is focused on the real-world implications of open carry. He’s not the CEO of Fort Lonesome or Turkey Creek but of a major city that is increasingly a draw for visitors. He sees open carry as a direct threat to Tampa’s progress.
“It threatens public safety, tourism, economic development, job creation and our quality of life,” says Buckhorn. He conjures up scary scenarios of those biking the Riverwalk or walking Ybor’s Seventh Avenue–while openly packing heat.
And good luck in sleeping well, Santiago Corrada, if either open carry-permitting SB 300 or HB 163 passes this session. A family-friendly pitch would have a lot more than the prospect of expanded gambling to worry about for Visit Tampa Bay.
Moreover, legalized open carry hardly helps corporate recruiting beyond Shooters World. And landing conventions, Super Bowls and Final Fours would become much more problematic.
Buckhorn is hardly alone in his managerial opposition to open carry. Tampa’s cut-to-the-chase police chief, Eric Ward, has called it a “bad idea.” Arguably, he knows even more about public safety than NRA patron saint Marion Hammer.
But there are concerns, point out the NRA and its acolytes, that law-abiding, concealed-carry permit holders–and there are 1.5 million of them in Florida–might be subject to arrest for accidentally displaying a weapon. Wind gusts happen. Wouldn’t be fair. So an open carry law takes care of that.
But only if a self-serving, simplistic argument is allowed to carry the rhetorical day.
The Florida Sheriff’s Association has proposed a common-sense compromise. The FSA favors formal immunity to concealed-carry permit holders when their weapons are accidentally revealed. Thus, no need for open carry overcorrection.
And Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober has labeled accidental display a “red herring.” That’s because Florida already has an improper display statute on the books–and it wouldn’t result in someone being arrested for having their gun exposed by accident.
State Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, who sponsored the open carry House bill, is typical of the rhetorical embroidery this subject continues to invite. Here’s what he told the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee: “It will enhance the liberty interests of our citizens, and it will ensure that we have safe communities.” Sounds like he was channeling Sarah Palin.
The reality is more like this.
Florida is unlike any other state. It has 20 million residents, 1.5 million concealed-carry permit holders and about 100 million tourists, domestic and foreign. Factor in the law of unintended consequences, and you would have an open-carry recipe for disaster–from loss of life to loss of market attraction–that not even the Gunshine State has seen before.