Q&A of the Day – Spike in Florida guns sales & what’s up with CCW permits?
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
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Today’s entry: Really big fan of the show and have been for a while. Really love how you break things down and don’t fall into the sensationalism. Thank you for always presenting the facts on important things in our community that don’t get headlines.
With that being said I wanted to see if maybe you could do some fact finding and shed a light on a concern. My wife and I recently got our CCW in Broward. I know there has been a spike in CCW apps and gun sales in the recent months. My concern is the Fl Dept of Agriculture has been closed since the beginning of the pandemic since March and on their webpage, they have no date for when they are opening. I would assume there is a huge backlog of people trying to obtain their license but can’t because of the closure. I’m no conspiracy theorist but I find it kind odd that almost every government and local entity is back working on some scale but yet nobody can get their CCW at any local offices except for Tallahassee. You can mail it, but most people want to do it in person because it is sensitive documentation. Sorry for the long email I just know in the past you have been to shed light on a lot of small but big issues.
Bottom Line: First, regarding the spike in gun sales... It’s been huge as you’ve suggested. According to the FDLE, background checks conducted to purchase firearms have increased by 83% through the first seven months of the year – already breaking the 1 million mark in July. It’s safe to say a record number of firearms will be purchased in Florida this year. Then there’s the matter of a Concealed Carry Permit which you’ve raised. Florida was already the leader nationally in CCW licenses entering 2020, so one might imagine the demand has been huge there as well. But what of the offices being closed as you’ve observed? Here’s what’s happened during the pandemic...
- On March 20th, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced field offices for the Department would be closed to the public temporarily due to the pandemic. This prevented Floridians from having their CCW permits processed in person from these locations across the state.
- On March 23rd, Fried announced online applications for CCW permits would be halted as well.
- On May 11th, Cliff Maloney of the Young Americans for Liberty sued the Commissioner Fried and the Florida Department of Agriculture for denying Constitutional rights.
Nikki maintained her office was doing nothing wrong as fingerprints needed for processing were still being offered at law enforcement agencies and tax collector’s offices statewide and the documentation could be sent through the mail for processing as you’ve indicated. Fried acknowledged this process made it more difficult to obtain a license but suggested it was a COVID inconvenience rather than an effort use the pandemic to slow roll CCW permits. On June 15th, Nikki reopened the online portal for applications along with the Tallahassee field office. To date it remains the only open office operated by the Department of Agriculture for consumer affairs.
Those are all the facts. How one chooses to interpret them determines whether you think Fried has and continues to use the pandemic to limit access to Concealed Carry Permits. The actions she’s taken are unprecedented in her office under any declared emergency but then again, this pandemic has been as well. Nikki Fried is a Democrat attorney from Fort Lauderdale who happened to win the race for Agriculture Commissioner. That context, for me, is key in evaluating questionable behavior from her office whether it’s her use of putting her face on every gas pump in Florida at our expense, the “SMART” pandemic plan she announced after the Governor’s like plan or this issue.