[QUOTE/]
I think we need to be careful here in how we define this stuff. Push too far and something's gonna break. Personally, I'm not willing to risk my freedom on a very thin stretching of the definition of a word.
Well, what I am looking for is a cite for a non-word
directly. Where did that come from?
And WTH do lawyers do anyway, nit-pit away at singular words to arrive at a legal conclusion.
Directly is not in the statute. Expedition is, so we need that definition.
Who knows, maybe that word is awaiting a test case just like
briefly.
I would still like Rich to satisfy the questions in my previous post, how about it Rich?
A. Dulay, are you on a fishing expedition when you stop for gas? Are you going somewhere or are you going
directly somewhere? Help me out here ...[/QUOTE]
David,
To my knowledge, there is no case law on point. What this means is that the question hasn't reached an appellate level Florida court or higher. So what I'm saying is pure speculation on my part, tempered by conversations I've had with firearms lawyers.
You are correct, the statute does not say "direct". However it does say, "going to and coming from". So the question in court would be, at what point are you going to or coming from a fishing expedition? If you leave your home with a fishing tackle box and a pole, but you know you have to stop for gas on the way, are you going fishing or are you going to the gas station at that point in your journey? If you leave the fishing hole with full knowledge and intent of stopping by the Waffle House on the way home to grab a bite to eat, when you leave the restaurant, are you coming from fishing or coming from eating?
Also consider the reason the legislature included the "going to and coming from" phrase. If the statute simply said, "while fishing, camping, or hunting", is it then possible that you could be charged with open carry the moment you reeled in your line and began to walk back to your car, or perhaps when you broke camp and were packing your tent? Or maybe when you were dragging your deer out of the woods?
So does the statute say directly? No, it doesn't. But likely the people hearing the case in court wouldn't be "gun people" and they're going to frame the issue in the perspective of - does it make any sense to open carry a firearm pretty much anywhere under the guise of the "going to or coming from" clause. And I'm afraid the answer to that is no. The general consensus among the legal eagles is that the "directly" part is implied, would be expected by a judge, and therefore an argument in court on the basis of the lack of the term "direct" would likely fail. So as many have said, it may be technically legal, it may not be prudent to the judge.
But ultimately, it is fruitless to waste time and effort over minutia in statute when our goal is to get general open carry, or preferably constitutional carry in Florida. Florida Carry will be introducing legislation in the upcoming session and future sessions until we get these initiatives passed.