Photo: CBS 12
Open Carry is now the "law of the state." That's what Attorney General James Uthmeier has told us and noted in a guidance memo to Sheriffs across Florida this week.
This after an appeals court ruled that a ban on openly carrying firearms was unconstitutional.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw says this changes nothing in the way his deputies respond to calls.
"We always assume everybody's armed until we find out they're not. So, it's not gonna change a lot about how we do business with people."
But he stresses for lawful gun owners that this also doesn't change where you can carry a gun.
"You can't go into schools. You can't go into city and county courthouses. You can't go into police stations. You can't go into sheriff's offices."
Bradshaw says you also will have to abide by the rules of private business owners. If they don't allow guns, you can't bring one in and the attorney general says that you can be arrested and charged if you refuse to leave after being told to do so by that business owner.
The sheriff says the rules are common sense.
"You as a citizen have a right to carry a gun, whether it's concealed or open. You don't have the right to be reckless or careless with it. You don't have the right to threaten people. I mean, a guy with an M-16 walking down in the middle of a crowd, that's an issue because you're scaring people."
He says this new policy won't make things any more dangerous for deputies.