HB 809 – Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons or Firearms

General Bill by Fernández (CO-SPONSORS) Smith, C.
Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons or Firearms: Reduces term and fee of license to carry concealed weapon or firearm; requires retention of fingerprints in specified state system; requires proof of completion of firearms training or safety course or class meeting specified requirements to renew license.

Once again, on first impressions and by the description, there is nothing ominous about the bill, but the text tells us otherwise. Firs, once again we have another idiot trying to reduce the length of the validity of the license from 7 to 5 years.

Next we have this jewel:

Fingerprints shall be retained in the statewide automated biometric identification system under s. 943.05(2)(b) and when available, the national retained print arrest notification program under s. 943.05(4).

Congratulations! The State of Florida will consider you equal to a criminal by the simple act of getting a CWL. This is the application of Moms Demands’ mantra “All Gun Owners are Law abiding till they are not” or basically your pre-crime statute.  And knowing that only half of one percent Floridians who were ever issued a CWL committed a ANY felony or misdemeanor domestic abuse since the inception of the licensing belies the need for this level of scrutiny. This is the scheme they have in Hawaii were you are stripped of your guns and licenses if you are ever arrested for anything, not even convicted.

The last part of this bill is the obligatory 8 hour “firearms training or safety course or class” every time you need to renew your license. I am not going to bother with the details, but I see it as designed to have people say “screw it” because they do not want to waste a day teaching the class or instructors refusing to teach the class because it requires “Information on the statutory and case law of Florida relating to handguns and to the use of deadly force” and since most instructors are not lawyers, they would (or at least should) fear that they would get sued if something were to happen.

This bill makes it very clear why we need Constitutional Carry in Florida.