Attorney: Florida 'constitutional carry' bill could lead to more 'stand your ground' cases

LAKE MARY, FL - One Central Florida attorney said he expects to see more "stand your ground" cases if a bill allowing concealed carry without a license were to pass in Florida.

"If someone breaks into my house and I have a gun and I feel endangered, I can protect myself by that intruder who has committed a forcible felony and I can use deadly force to do so," Bob Fisher, an attorney in Central Florida, said.

If permit-less carry were to pass in Florida, Fisher thinks it would lead to more "stand your ground" cases.

"Those people who aren’t convicted felons and don’t have concealed weapons permits are probably going to be more comfortable arming themselves and protecting themselves in the unlikely event of something like that occurring, so I think it’s going to increase the number of people protecting themselves," he said.

Whitney Boan, an attorney in Central Florida, thinks the bill could do more harm than good if passed.

"I believe it’s possible there would be a rise in the instances of gun violence if there is an increased amount of people who are permitted to carry firearms and weapons without having any licensure required for that," Boan said.

A recent study from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Publix Health looked at relaxed carry laws in 34 states. It shows a 9.5% increase in the average rate of assaults with firearms in the first ten years after the change. 

"If there’s an increase in violence, there’s certainly going to be an increase in litigation relative to what constitutes self-defense or your ability to stand your ground or not," Boan said.

Lawmakers will consider the bill during the legislative session that will start March 7.