DeSantis signs bill allowing Florida residents to carry concealed guns without permit

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday that will allow the state’s residents to carry concealed guns without a state permit.

The bill was signed into law by DeSantis after a 27-23 vote in the Florida Senate and will go into effect on July 1.

With the new law, anyone who can legally own a gun in Florida can carry one without a permit and training and a background check will not be required to carry concealed guns in public.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the move by DeSantis is “shameful” as it comes so soon after the Nashville school shooting on March 27 which left three students and three adults dead.

“This is the opposite of commonsense gun safety. The people of Florida -- who have paid a steep price for state and Congressional inaction on guns from Parkland to Pulse Nightclub to Pine Hills -- deserve better,” she said in a statement.

Noting President Joe Biden’s “clear” stance on gun violence, she reiterated his call on Congress to “ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and require background checks for all gun sales, and for state officials to take action at the state level.”