Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey. (image: Brevard County Sheriff's Office, Facebook)

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said he would “love to see” Florida be an open carry state. …

[Brevard County Sheriff Wayne] Ivey said the U.S. Constitution is “the foundation and the fabric of our great nation.”

“It says you have the right to bear arms. It doesn’t say you have to conceal it. It doesn’t say you have to have a permit, anything of that nature,” Ivey said. “You don’t have to have a permit to exercise your First Amendment right, so why would you need one to exercise your Second Amendment right?”

Ivey said a lot of people fear that “it will be the wild wild west,” but he believes that wouldn’t be the case.

“When you look at these other states, they’re not the wild wild west. Tennessee has a huge tourist attraction,” he said. “They’re a big tourist state. It’s not the wild wild west there – why would it be in the state of Florida?”

— Amber Jo Cooper in Sheriff Wayne Ivey Calls for Open Carry, Touts Florida’s 2nd Amendment Protections

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65 COMMENTS

    • Johnny LeBlanc,

      Your statement is true. So is this statement, “The whole country should be free of rape and murder.” And yet neither statement has actually happened and likely never will happen.

      The real question that we should be asking and debating is what can we actually accomplish to get us as close as possible to those two ideals?

      • Since History Confirms Gun Control is an agenda Rooted in Racism and Genocide debating Gun Control zealots Provides Standing for an Agenda History Confirms is Rooted in Racism and Genocide. By the same premise why not provide standing for rape and murder by debating rapists and murderers? Cut the chase…Gun Control like its sidekick Slavery needs to be Abolished.
        https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZFEz3Bt9hCw&feature=shared

        • A small spot of ‘history’:

          From the English Bill of Rights (1689): “Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law”;

          The US “Second Amendment” confirmed and strengthened an already existing ‘right’ under English law in the colonies. It removed the religious aspect, and the rich/poor ‘condition’, and changed the final four words from “as allowed by law” to “shall not be infringed”.

          History is fun…..

        • The History of Humans:
          War, famine, war, war, famine, war, civilazation, war, decease,war, civilization,decease, war, war, famine,war,war, war, pollution, war, decease, war, war, war,pollution, war, famine decease pollution, war, war pollution, war, pollution, war,pollution famine, war, decease, war.
          And we ain’t even out of the Old Testament yet.
          Chapter2
          War, civilization, pollution, famine, war war war, decease, war, war, war, decease, famine, war war war, pollution, decease, famine, war war war, nuclear radiation, pollution, decease famine, war war war, nuclear radiation.
          The End

  2. So what if it were the 1800s Wild West? The real Wild West, not the fictional Hollywood Wild West. Leaving aside the Indian Wars, the west wasn’t nearly so violent as fiction writers portray. Not by a long, very long shot. Reality and fiction only had a passing familiarity with each other, and they were totally unrelated. There weren’t enough people in America to sustain the level of violence that fiction writers have attributed to the Wild West. White man would have extincted himself if those stories were true. The world would be laughing itself silly that an entire nation had Darwined itself if the Wild West had been real.

    • The funny part is that the wild wild west thing the left says will happen is the very thing that actually is happened in places they control. Places with the strictest gun laws and the fewest numbers of lawful gun owners. They do the very thing they are so worried about others doing.

    • Back then we were a very religious people. That self-control is what stopped most crime from happening.
      President eisenhower in his final address to the nation said it best. When he said the enemies of liberty in the United States are atheistic in nature.

  4. “Sheriff Wayne Ivey: There’s No Reason Florida Shouldn’t Be an Open Carry State”

    Florida’s $20+ billion tourism industry and Florida’s Mega Wealthy Elite do not share that same sentiment.

      • MADDMAXX,

        Isn’t the Florida Legislature simply a proxy implementing the will of Florida’s tourism industry and Mega Wealthy Elite?

        • “Isn’t the Florida Legislature simply a proxy implementing the will of Florida’s tourism industry and Mega Wealthy Elite?”

          Not any more, Uncommon, see directly below.

          And the best part is, it was a strictly self-imposed wound… 🙂

    • “Florida’s $20 billion tourism industry…”

      They don’t have anywhere near the ‘throw’ they once had thanks to King Rat going full-on ‘Woke’.

      DeSantis will be more than happy to stick a finger right in Mickey’s eye, just to piss him off, like he did by taking away their self-regulating food safety… 😉

    • Florida, a Southern state, has been flooded with anti-gun residents from New York City and New Jersey. And how many people in Florida’s government were not born and raised in the state of Florida???

  5. “[the U.S. Constitution is] the foundation and the fabric of our great nation.” — Brevard County, Florida Sheriff Wayne Ivey

    That was the case 200 years ago. Today, not so much.

    What is the foundation and fabric of our “great” nation today? FEELINGS, billionaires, and multi-billion dollar corporations.

    Never ever forget the secular “golden rule” which simply states, “He who has the gold makes the rules.” Our sad reality is that humans are largely lazy, selfish, and greedy: entities with mountains of cash are able to exploit that reality to their maximum advantage and to the disadvantage of the masses. Thus, unless legal open carry creates a huge profit motive for Florida’s billionaire class, it will never happen.

    • FEELINGS, billionaires, and multi-billion dollar corporations.

      Pretty much anyone except heterosexual, conservative, employed white men…

    • The Constitution is but a framework written on parchment. It has no more power than any other written decree. We the People are the arm of enforcement. We the People must stand up and fight for our rights. Without We the People, there is no Republic.

  6. I live in VA. Open carry no permit. Concealed carry permit. It has always surprised me that states, even gun friendly ones, have prohibited open carry. Makes no sense to me. And, IMHO, either open or concealed carry MUST be unrestricted for it to be a true right. Then, I guess, a state could “permit” the other. All that said, I’m also astounded at how un-gun friendly Texas is. Their regime of 30.05 and 30.06 signage is redickulous. VA, signage has no force of law and no punishment for violation on private property. Now if you are asked to leave and don’t you may be subject to trespass laws. So yes Sheriff Ivey, you are most correct.

    • Gman,

      My intuition tells me that the organizations who advocate for our right to keep and bear arms are executing a carefully planned incremental strategy in the courts. Here is what I picture–past and future court decisions will establish that our right to keep and bear arms:

      1) Is an individual right. (Heller decision)
      2) Extends beyond the home. (Bruen decision)
      3) Does not require a license. (future)
      4) Cannot be limited to concealed or open carry. (future)
      5) Can only be excluded in a tiny number of locations (future)

      Unfortunately, incremental lawsuits are the only avenue with a very high likelihood of success in our system.

      Clarification on “tiny number of locations”: I believe that a future court decision will only allow concealed or open carry restrictions in a very small number of locations, such as prisons, courts, certain government buildings, certain secured public venues (such as airports or industrial operations), and perhaps a few other locations that escape me at the moment.

      • I tend to agree with you on the apparent approach, yet all of this is re-active. And for each step, the left comes up with a new and novel way to usurp the last ruling. Yet, as I opined below, using both Bruen and Miller is a pro-active strike against all of their novel theories. How wonderful would it be to make the left choke on their own words (Nobody needs a weapon of war) by proving that all firearms are, in form or function, weapons of war and thus ARE SPECIFICALLY protected by the introductory statement as cited in Miller? IMHO we need to go on the offensive.

        https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/the-simple-truth-about-guns-our-rights/

        • Agreed! gun controllers are constantly on the offensive time we are too.
          We all know what they want.
          Time they learn what the law of the land actually is.

        • Gman,

          In terms of going on the offensive:

          Progressive Justices have held the majority in the U.S. Supreme Court since the Miller decision in the 1930s–up until a few years ago. Going on the offensive while Progressive Justices held the majority on the U.S. Supreme Court was a certain recipe for failure. Now that Conservative Justices have the majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, we ARE going on the offensive.

  7. Not just nationwide open carry, Congress has a duty to arm every man age 18-45. It’s in that same Constitution

  8. Ya know a scant mile away in Indiana they have open carry & so-called constitutional carry. Beware open carrying in Hammond or anywhere in Lake county. Lots of weenies & shrieking mom’s will call the local constables. When we move there I won’t open carry unless on our property or out in the hinterlands. No comment on Florida🙄

  9. open carry
    is the natural order of things
    its only when big government gets involved
    and the natural order of things is disturbed
    that things go awry

  10. Its dumb to have concealed carry but not open carry. What’s the point?
    Oh I forgot, my fly is open and nobody likes to look at it, its toooooo scary.

  11. There is a reason we cant have it and it is because of POOR leadership under Ron Desantis.

    RINOs gonna RINO!

        • Actually, they took the shit off the sandwich when they did away with the permit requirement, they just failed to add the cheese and mayo…

        • If you carefully pick the poop out of the poop sandwich and put in some fresh ham but try to save the bread and the cheese would you eat it then?

          Once a poop sandwich always a poop sandwich IMHO. Throw that poopy Desantis bread away and get something fresh.

      • “De Santis isn’t a legislator.”

        He’s a part of the process, full stop. If he doesn’t sign it, it doesn’t happen…

        • DeSantis has pushed for open carry, even threatened a special session if they didn’t pass it in the Spring… DeSantis’ “legislating” powers end with suggestions of what he would like to see come across his desk… The “Governor” can’t sign something that does not exist, if they put open carry in front of him, he will sign it… Problem is Passidomo Senate President has taken a stand against it and she controls the agenda, if she does not want a vote on something there will not be a vote, she’s been there for 13 years and knows where a lot of the bodies are buried..

  12. California was legal open carry, no permit until 1968. After armed Black Panther members visited the California Legislature, there was a rush to ban loaded open carry, and Gov. Ronnie Raygun signed the bill. Since unloaded open carry is kind of stupid, open carry fell to the wayside. In 2012, a movement began to “normalize” open unloaded, but the peaceful gatherings of gun rights advocates had the opposite effect. After most of these gatherings led to calls to police by frightened Karens, the Legislature moved rapidly to ban open unloaded of handguns. After, the mere “threat” of people carrying unloaded long arms led to a ban a year later. Thus it is concealed carry with a permit only, and until Bruen, certain counties were virtually no-issue. The Ninth Circuit backed this move by declaring that a CCW was a privilege, not a right, and when this seemed to leave open carry as the right, it declared that there was no right to carry outside the home. Although that decision has been relegated to the dustbin of history, the Ninth has been upholding any and all infringements to 2A rights it can. Hopefully, there will be a major slapdown in the near future.

    • “The Ninth Circuit backed this move by declaring that a CCW was a privilege, not a right, and when this seemed to leave open carry as the right, it declared that there was no right to carry outside the home. Although that decision has been relegated to the dustbin of history,…”

      Not as far as they are concerned. ‘Bruen’ is just a temporary setback until they control the high Court again, and we should remain cognizant of that fact… 🙁

      • That’s the problem with the SCOTUS.
        The wrong 5 and it could all go to hell in a hurry.
        No Right is absolute, right President theBiden.
        To protect the Constitution to the best of my ability.
        And the guy is still president, Wow.

      • With weak tea ACB and Wobbly Roberts the lefties already own SCOTUS. Kavanaugh thinks that the more power the state has the better too. The Bruen decision may have been a fluke and we will just see with Rahimi and some of the other cases they have already taken how far our RKBA gets flushed down the toilet as this current term progresses.

      • Meanwhile back at the ranch the 4th Circuit just whacked Maryland’s pee-pee over their gun license law…

  13. I apologize in advance that this comment has little or nothing to do with this article but I did want to bring something to everyone’s attention. Lately MSN has been intimating that MAGA Republicans hate America and that the assertion that FBI agents were inciting Jan 6 protesters to riot is not true. There is a psychological term called “projection” which indicates that a person ascribes to others traits that they themselves possess. Now there is plenty of evidence that Radical Liberal Democrats are the ones that hate America: unvetted open borders, illegals, terrorists, drug dealers and human traffickers allowed to enter the Country, support for our enemies rather than our allies (ie: China, Iran, etc.) The fentanyl, homeless and violence problems have escalated under the Democrats, the economy is in bad shape as well as the energy situation, food prices are out of sight for many families, the Government spends tons of money on foreign countries, foreigners, illegals, rather than on American citizens. They introduced the smash and grab without penalty as long as you don’t take more than $900 in goods, rioting is permissible if you play the race card, a two tier system of justice where liberals go free and conservatives go to jail for the same or lesser crimes. The radical liberal left tactic of telling you lies over and over until you believe they are true has worked on many people in this Country who have been brain washed to believe untruths are truths. Don’t let that happen to you, if you don’t hear it or see it yourself don’t believe it.

      • Once they got in charge of the government schools they turned them into reeducation day camps and stopped teaching anything of value. Instead they turned out a bunch of brainwashed mind zombies.

        I’m surprised most kids born after around 1980 can even find their way to work and back and probably could not without their smartphones telling them which way to turn. God forbid the car break down or they need to change a flat tire. Without a tow truck they would be lost.

  14. Sheriff Ivey is right.
    Florida used to be an open carry state, until 1985, when the crack wars hit the national news and the media freaked out that ‘everyone’ down here carry’s openly.
    There is only one reason Florida is not an open carry state now,
    Kathleen Passidomo, Senate President. She is the top dawg of a small but powerful group of Senators that rule the day.
    Now, to be fair, She has supported a ton of things that were good for Florida, But as she stated one time: I’m not going to see people dashing around Walmart with their tricked out AR15s dangling between their legs banging them in the family jewels.
    Now, thats not a quote of what she said, but its exactly what she meant.
    Her current term ends on November 3, 2026,
    So,
    Make a note, she has to get reelected.
    On a positive note, Floridians have proved all the nay-sayers wrong that Florida would erupt into Anarchy with everyone and anyone allowed to carry concealed. Thats will be the lead up to the next step, and Senator Passidomo will have great difficulty denying it again, if she’s still in there.

    • Kathleen Passidomo has got to go. I know people in Naples and there is a growing discontent with her “performance” on the open carry front. There is a price to be paid for what she has done. She’s got a couple of years of breathing room but she will face a real primary battle if she unwisely decides to continue her career past this current term.

      • there are a lot more old, retired Yankees in her district than there are folks worried about being able to open carry.

  15. If the sheriff doesn’t check the right boxes? With the pot heads and the sexual liberation movement, they will never support him.

  16. Just as almost every LEO today doesn’t have a gun battle non stop every day (as shown in the movies and TV), every settler, cowboy ,rancher ,farmer ,shopkeeper ,bartender explorer, and LEOs of the past didn’t have a gun battle in “The Wild Wild West” every day. That fantasy comes from writers and directors ,NOT HISTORY !! We wouldn’t be interested in the real every day life of the past just as we aren’t interested in the current monotonous daily grind today for entertainment. The same crap different day.

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