Outgoing Florida House Republican Files ‘Open Carry’ Bill for ’25 Session

North Florida House Republican Dr. Joel Rudman, who plans to leave the Legislature to run for Congress, has filed legislation to repeal the state’s red-flag laws and legalize the ‘open carry’ of guns in Florida — long a goal of Second Amendment advocates.

“I take the Constitution very seriously,” Rudman wrote on his Facebook page on Monday. “That’s why my first bill of the 2025 Session is a 2nd Amendment bill that repeals Florida’s unconstitutional red flag laws and makes Florida an open carry state. If you value #liberty and #freedom, then you stand with me!”

While the measure may gain traction in the Florida House, its likelihood of becoming law is remote, as Senate President Ben Albritton has already said he won’t go against the wishes of the Florida Sheriffs Association, which historically has opposed open carry.

“Let me be clear about this: I’ve supported law enforcement my entire life,” Albritton told reporters in Tallahassee last month. “It’s the way I was raised. And I’ve been super consistent as a legislator to support law enforcement in Florida, and I encourage you to check that record. And I stand with them today in opposition.”

There was also opposition to the legislation in the past two years under former House Speaker Paul Renner. New House Speaker Daniel Perez hasn’t commented on such legislation. He did recently receive a 92% rating by the National Rifle Association.

The proposal does include places where the open carrying of a firearm would not be allowed, including any law enforcement station, detention facility, prison, jail or courthouse. Nor could weapons be brought into a meeting of the Legislature or legislative committee.

Judges would be allowed to openly carry a weapon into a courthouse and determine “who will carry a concealed weapon or concealed firearm in his or her courtroom or chambers, and this exception shall not extend to any parking facility in or near any courthouse.”

Guns in polling places, campuses

The proposal would strip out the ability of law enforcement to use what are known as risk protection orders (also known as a “red flag” law) to remove firearms from individuals deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

And it would permit guns to be carried into polling places, on college campuses, and in career centers — all places where they are now banned under state law.

Left unsaid in Rudman’s social media message is that he is only weeks away from leaving the chamber, as he has filed to run in the special election in Florida’s 1st Congressional District to succeed Matt Gaetz. Rudman’s resign-to-run letter said he would leave the House on Jan. 1. The Republican primary is set for Jan. 28, 2025, and the general election is set for April 1.

Florida is one of only four in the nation that ban the open carrying of a firearm either with or without a permit (the others are California, New York, and Illinois).

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