How Florida put the silencer on changing gun laws

By Caitie Muñoz,

Published August 13, 2021 at 6:06 PM EDT

Ways To Subscribe

Apple
Spotify
Stitcher

Man holds a gun at a gun range while wearing a blue surgicial mask — Gun owner and instructor Ronald Sippio Jr. practices his shot at a gun range in Hollywood Florida on Thursday, September 3, 2020. As NRA membership dues have declined, board members quit, its finances and political activity are under scrutiny and the NY Attorney General sued to dissolve the organization entirely, many Black gun owners have felt unrepresented, if not outright ignored, by the organization.

Decades ago there were more than 400 local gun control laws in Florida, depending on the votes of city and county officials. After backlash from gun rights groups rocked Tallahassee, those laws are now illegal. We explore how the state took over gun laws in Florida, and how far state leaders will go to make things stay that way.

Updated July 12, 2022

WLRN received first place in the radio category of the 2022 Parker Thomson Awards for Outstanding Legal Journalism in Florida. WLRN also won second place in the same category for a compilation of coverage of the legal proceedings following the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside.