With limited exceptions, it's illegal in the state of Florida for a jurisdiction to post a public space as a gun-free zone; something Second Amendment advocates recently had to remind law enforcement about in Tallahassee.
A contingent of members from Florida Carry and Gun Owners of America recently wrangled with officials from the North Florida Fair in Tallahassee. The topic came about because fair officials posted on its website that there’s a “no weapons” policy. GOA Florida State Director Luis Valdes said they reached out to officials prior to opening and received vague answers. When seeking admission to the fair, gun owners were granted entry, but only after a sheriff’s officer told them to not advertise that carry is allowed on the property.
According to Florida law fair associations are defined by statute and act as pseudo-governmental bodies. Authority of these associations is granted by county commissions, therefore they act as an extension of the county.
Chapter 790 Section 33 is the preemption law in the Sunshine State. Part of the preemption law induces the possession of firearms and how it’s the state legislature’s authority to dictate gun-free zones. Those sensitive locations are defined in 790.06(12).
Valdes says that a lot of these jurisdictions engage in what he’s calling the “municipal two-step.”
For example, a fair that occurs on the grounds of a school, such as the Youth Fair in Miami, would be a gun-free zone. That’s only because school property is listed as a sensitive location. But when it comes to property rented or leased to a county for the purpose of hosting a fair or event, they can’t lean on the property owner’s policies without respecting the rule of state law.
“The fair in North Florida in Tallahassee, it's not a gun-free zone because it's just publicly owned property,” Valdes said. “It's not owned by the school board. It's not owned by a college or anything that would qualify to be an automatic gun-free zone.”
The North Florida Fair is in Leon County. For years, Valdes says the county fair association claimed the fair is a gun-free zone.
“The way they do it is the fair association on paper is a separate organization from the county, and they lease it to them for $1,” Valdes explained. “The county was doing the classic municipal two-step of: ‘We're not declaring it a gun-free zone. They are. It's not us. You can't go after us.’”
A video that Valdes posted to Facebook caught the exchange at the North Florida Fair. A visitor wearing a Florida Carry shirt openly carrying a firearm was filmed by another fairgoer, also presumably armed. The open carrier is shown going through high-speed walk-through security monitoring towers and then escorted to a security guard.
The guard directed the patrons to talk to one of the sheriff’s deputies.
“So we're just going to ask — we're not going to deny you entry for being armed — because we respect the right to carry firearms here in the great State of Florida, we will respectfully ask if you will secure your weapons in the vehicle,” the deputy said. “If you don't want to, we're not going to make you. We don't want to deny you actually coming in. That's up to y'all … You will not be denied.”
While the sheriff’s deputy made it clear that the patrons would not be denied entry to the fair, he asked them to consider why the security screening is there in the first place.
“Mind you, thinking big picture, right?” the deputy said. “All these security measures are in place to prevent other ill-willed folks from bringing firearms in here, right?” The deputy’s opinion did not end there, “We don't want word spreading — essentially because once it once it happens, it's going to spread quick to everybody, right? That they can carry in here.”
Ultimately speaking, the contingent was granted entry to the fair without incident.
“As you saw in the video, the sheriff's deputy admitted that we could carry at the fair, but they didn't want us spreading the word,” Valdes told Bearing Arms. “And our policy is very simple, this is a civil rights map. We're going to spread it.”
The exchange was a positive outcome for all parties involved. Valdes says that Gun Owners of America has had to sue other jurisdictions in similar situations. Any time things can be handled outside of a courtroom and the rule of a constitutional law is respected is a win for the Second Amendment.
As for the “word spreading”? It’s too late for that, Mr. Deputy — the carriage of firearms at the North Florida Fair in Tallahassee is legal and will not be stopped by county officials.
Editor’s Note: Groups like Florida Carry and GOA are working across the country to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
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