I have to admit to be late to this discussion and Florida law in general...but I have a quick question...how is it Constitutional to require a permit to exercise a Fundamental Right?
Is it illegal Open Carry and then REQUIRE a permit to conceal carry?? How is one to exercise their right without state permission?
carolina guy, the short answer IMHO is that the Constitution does not apply at all. The Constitution only lists the powers granted to the Federal government by the States, and in the case of the bill of rights they explicitly spell out what they can NOT do. So again IMHO - ALL, every single, federal gun law is unconstitutional by virtue of what the 2nd amendment says. ("Shall not be infringed") The Constitution passes the buck onto the States, and the people to handle the gun issue.
But even the States should not be infringing upon inalienable rights such as a mans right to self defense. I mean does it make sense to say the feds can not infringe upon the right to bear arms because it is an inalienable right, but it is OK for the States to do so?
If arms are meant to protect us from tyrannical government it also follows that no government should have any business interfering with arms. There is a huge conflict of interest here and one that will always end badly. Government is supposed to only be interested in protecting our rights not regulating inanimate objects, which are also a property right. So yes ALL state laws should be struck down (by we the people) as they violate your inalienable right to property, and also to self defense.
Locke. Paine, and the founders believed that all men had all rights as a virtue of their birth. Governments will always get out of control when the electorate does not hold their feet to the fire. 99% of what governments do (fed, state and local) violate Inalienable Rights. And they do it because of a dumbed down and apathetic electorate.
It's a slippery slope that we let happen. Look what happened to our right to travel! Now it is openly called a permission. Or our right to work (now licensed) or our right to build a home. (Building codes now take that away.)
"Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." ~ Ex slave -Frederic Douglass