WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — I sat down with Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw on Monday to talk about the permitless carry gun law that takes effect Saturday in Florida.
Here are excerpts from our conversation:
"It is the ability to buy a firearm, carry it concealed and you don't have to have a permit anymore like you did before."
"The rules on who can own a firearm have not changed. You cannot be a convicted felon, you have to be 21 and a U.S. citizen. And when you go to a gun store the same process. You will have to go through a background check and you have to have the three-day waiting period."
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Bradshaw added:
"You can buy the gun, carry it concealed but the operative word is concealed. You can't walk down the street with it open. "
"There are places you cannot carry it. You can't carry it in a bar, or a nightclub or into a governmental meeting, private property."
Schools are included among the places where one cannot carry.
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On the fact that training is not required/mandatory, Bradshaw said:
"I don't want somebody that has never fired a gun or never owned a gun to walk into a gun store and say I want that automatic over there and they have no training, no understanding of it. I urge people if they are going to buy a firearm, especially one of these new automatics, get a professional to show you how to use it so you don't hurt yourself."
PBSO has posted on Facebook a fact vs. fiction breakdown the new law.