In a video posted by Florida Gun Rights, a flabbergasted Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) can be seen mocking state GOP lawmakers by asking, “Are we Florida or are we San Francisco?”
DeSantis was railing against the lawmakers’ inaction on open carry legislation.
On February 1, 2025, Breitbart News reported that DeSantis called on lawmakers to pass legislation legalizing the open carry of handguns.
Florida was the 26th state to adopt constitutional carry; however, unlike many other constitutional carry states —the total of which is now 29 — Florida’s law only applies to concealed carry. There is no Florida law allowing the open carry of handguns.
On August 5, 2024, Breitbart News noted that Gun Owners of America (GOA) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, hammering Florida’s continued lack of an open carry provision.
GOA’s complaint said, in part, “This blatant infringement of the Second Amendment right to ‘bear arms’ runs counter to this nation’s historical tradition and would have criminalized the very colonists who openly carried their muskets and mustered on the greens at Lexington and Concord to fight for their independence.”