Difference between &quot;constitutional&quot; carry VS having a concealed weapons permit?
<p>Florida is close to passing <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/543" rel="nofollow noreferrer">HB.543</a> dubbed “constitutional carry”. This would allow people to carry concealed loaded guns without permits under legislation.</p>
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<li>For people with concealed weapons permits, does this change anything?</li>
<li>Are the benefits of concealed weapons permits passed along to unlicensed people?</li>
</ul>

<ol>
<li><p>Effectively they would stop being required to pay fees for renewal and/or obtaining permits, plus no longer required to attend any required safety courses or self-report on any other information that such permits would typically require.  There may be an issue with other states honoring a state's constitutional carry if they require a permit, however, states rarely respect out of state permits for conceal carry either way (If you plan to travel interstate, it's best to have your firearms secured in locked containers.  People have been arrested for accidentally illegal conceal carry when traveling to a state they are not permitted to conceal carry in.).</p>
</li>
<li><p>Yes, in that there is no longer a license to permit carrying a concealed firearm.</p>
</li>
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<p>There are some benefits to having a licensing program over Constitutional Carry, specifically that, statistically speaking, Conceal Carry are some of the people least likely to break the law.  Police are statistically more likely to break the law than conceal carry permit holders, where as Constitutional Carry would not guarantee that degree of safety (Criminals who have gone uncaught typically do by avoiding any investigational scrutiny, so they would avoid the background check of the conceal carry permit process.).</p>
<p>That said, as of 2022, all states that require a Conceal Carry Permit are &quot;Shall Issue&quot; states, following the SCOTUS decision in <em>New York State Rifle &amp; Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen</em>.  This means that states must give a license if all requirements for a license are met.   Some former &quot;May Issue&quot; states, have tried to get around this by-passing additional burdens on Permit requirements with many challenges in court over the constitutionality of such restrictions and requirements (I'm aware of multiple cases making their way through New York, New Jersey, and California and are in various states of appeals.).   Critics of Permit carry hold that any state that requires such a stipulation are at best highly prone to corrupting influence in permit processes and at worst, creating laws specifically intended to design constitutional rights.</p>

<p>Two questions here:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>For people who already have a FL issued permit, there is likely no change.  Their permit is still valid and some may opt to continue to obtain one as there are other states that don't have &quot;constitutional carry&quot; and may recognized the FL permit.</p>
</li>
<li><p>This depends on the law but in most cases where states have passed similar laws, there is no longer a need for an otherwise lawful person to obtain a government-issued permit to carry a firearm or other weapon covered under the statute.</p>
</li>
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