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BE CAREFUL:
What Florida's New Gun Law Should Mean To You.
Timmy Lanier
The new gun law that was signed by Governor DeSantis in Florida went into effect on July 1, 2023. To say that this law is controversial is an understatement! What this law means is that anyone who meets the qualifications to have a permit to carry a gun can now carry a gun even if they don’t have a permit. Whether or not you agree or disagree, like or dislike this new law is irrelevant at this point because no matter how anyone feels, this will be the law beginning July 1. In all fairness, it must be disclosed that Florida is not the only state with this such law; Florida just happens to be the newest state to adopt this law. In fact, 25 other states across our great nation allow
concealed guns to be carried without permits. That being said, for the sake of promoting health and wellness, I recommend the following:
1. Assume that everyone has a gun at all times. Hopefully this assumption will lead you to be more disciplined in your reactions to other’s actions. Do not allow this assumption to convince you that, because everyone has a gun, you better strike first. No… by no means should you think in that regard.
2. When someone is confrontational, especially a stranger that you know would never have the audacity to step to you, much less behave aggressively toward you for any reason, tell yourself that their bravado is likely due to a newfound wave of confidence in the form of a concealed gun that they are likely carrying.
3. Florida is a ‘stand your ground’ state meaning that someone is allowed to stand their ground and protect themselves when they feel that their life and well-being may be threatened. We’ve seen several cases where people have been shot down and the shooter’s excuse of self-defense exonerated them. Do not allow yourself to be lured into a contentious situation whereby the person opposite you is able to claim that you were behaving aggressively and because of your aggressive behavior, they feared for their life or well-being and felt that they had no other choice but to shoot you.
It’s not worth it to get into any heated situations especially after July 1. People’s knee-jerk reaction in contentious situations is usually not what they would do if they were cooled down. There would probably be far more shootings if people had guns in their possession at the time that they were engaged in a fiery disagreement. I fear that there will be an increase in senseless killings when more people are carrying a concealed firearm simply because, in the heat of the moment, most peoples’ judgement is unclear, and their sense of reasoning is non-existent. Not carrying a gun forces these individuals to cool off to some degree as their initial intent may have been to shoot if they had a gun. After some time and much thought, clear judgement and sound reasoning usually recover enough to give way to mature decisioning. Be careful.
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