September 11, 2025 • 11 mins
Florida’s ban on the open carrying of firearms is unconstitutional according to the 1st District Court of Appeal. The three-judge panel ruled that the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms including the right to openly do so. In response Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier stated: Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals just ruled that Florida’s open carry ban is no longer constitutionally enforceable statewide. Our office fully supports the Court’s decision. This is a big win for the Second Amendment rights of Floridians. As we’ve all witnessed over the last few days, our God-given right to self-defense is indispensable.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Two sides to the story. There's only one side to
the facts. Welcome to the Brian Mud Show, and thank
you for listening on this solemn day as we.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Are recognizing the twenty fourth anniversary of nine to eleven
and honoring the life of the great Charlie Kirk. So
much that's going on in our state, so much to
talk to our state's attorney general about. We start with
the legendary Charlie Kirk. James Outhmeyer joining us now.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Good morning, good morning, Yeah, thank you for having me.
It's the solemn day. Indeed, you know what we saw
yesterday was you know what happens ultimately when the left
and evildoers, you know, they can't win because they don't
have the truth. They can't win and debate. And Charlie
was a friend. He believed very much in debate and
discourse and the exchange of ideas always in and you know,
(01:00):
in a peaceful fashion. So it's tragic what happened. I
know it's gonna you know, cause a lot of conservative speakers,
people advocating for what's right and just and true to
clam up and engage in more security measures. And we
absolutely have to be safe. But you know I'm emerging. Everybody,
There's no better time than now to continue, you know,
(01:20):
speaking for first principle, speaking for truth, because we cannot
let we can't let evil silence us.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
James on that note, I was thinking about this, and
I'm an extra product of the eighties. I am a
Reagan Conservative. I am a Rush baby as well. And
for a lot of people, I think a lot of
younger adults and even you know, many teenagers.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
He was their Rush Limbaugh, and Donald Trump is their
Ronald Reagan in many ways, as heinous as horrific as
this is, I take a look at the lasting generational
impact that Reagan and Rush had and still have every
single day on people like me, and I think about
(02:13):
the influence that he will have and certainly our president
for younger generations.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
You're exactly right when it came to going into the
enemy territory of higher education campuses, where you know, leftist,
communist agendas are being pushed heavily on our young people.
Charlie was a trailblazer. He was really a one of
a kind going into this enemy territory and winning with ideas,
(02:42):
winning with truth. So I think he you know, he
changed the hearts and minds of you know, tens of
hundreds of thousands of people. And I think the President
said it best. I mean, he will be a legend
and what happened to him only further enshrines that legendary status.
And I'm excited to see the conservative movement, the young
(03:03):
conservative movement, rally around what Charlie believed in and you know,
continue to preach further and higher.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
James, how important is it from a law enforcement perspective
to maintain open discourse, including with controversial figures on college
campuses and the immediate aftermath of this, you have a
lot of discussion out there that a lot of colleges
are just going to say, well, we can't do things
like this anymore, we can't secure it. It's not talk
(03:32):
about that a little bit if you would. And also,
you know the security from the state's perspective.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Absolutely well, you know security measures are going to have
to be implemented, and you know it's going to there's
going to have to be a tighter approach in many respects.
But we have to have discourse on campuses. It's what
our founding fathers cared so much about. They believe very
much in First Amendment principles, the ability to express ideas,
(04:02):
to disagree to even question, you know, the views of
our leaders. We have to ensure that that continues. It's
healthy for democracy, it's healthy for the future of our country,
and it's healthy for the upbringing of our children. But
we've got to look, it's a different world and we
have to treat it as such, and we have got
to implement rule of law. We see these tragic situations
(04:24):
like the events on the train, you know, just a
heart wrenching situation, and now Charlie, and it just shows
that we've got to hold criminals accountable. We've got to
crack down. We cannot be run like cities, you know,
Chicago and New York in LA where we just allow
senseless murder after senseless murder. We have to take these seriously.
(04:47):
I hope they find this guy. I hope they bring
the death penalty in several of these recent cases and
make it clear we do not tolerate lawlessness here in
the United States of America.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
At you Tah's governor emphasizing yesterday that they do have
the death penalty in that state. We're speaking with Florida's
Attorney General, James Uthmeyer a historic decision in Florida yesterday
for First District Court of Appeals ruling that Florida's ban
on open carrying is not constitutional. So tell us a
(05:23):
little bit about this ruling and also the implications.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Well this, you know, this ruling, it was kind of
an unusual day to get it right before the Charlie
Kirk situation. So I haven't gone through to unpack every aspect,
but I agree very much with the First DCA that
the gun restrictions here in Florida, including the open carry prohibition,
are inconsistent with the Constitution and the interpretation of our
(05:51):
constitution going back to founding principles. So the decision's right.
I will not be appealing the decision. So for now,
this is the law of the land. I know there's
some litigation and other jurisdictions that we're monitoring, but the
prohibition on brandishing a weapon now in Florida is unconstitutional.
You know, we'll look at this the legislature. Obviously, we'll
(06:14):
have to come back and do some clean up given
what's on the books here in Florida statutes. But it
was nice to see judges making the right call, following
the law is written. Despite some of the policy debates
and you know, emotional pushes from different sides. That's what
judges are supposed to do. They're supposed to follow the
laws written and not be legislators themselves when they disagree
(06:36):
with what the law is.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And just from a point of clarity, as you are
the top law enforcement official in the state, those who
are legally able to possess are able to open carry
in the state of Florida.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Today, correct, I mean, we're not going to be enforcing
the law. It's still on the books, but given that ruling,
we will not be enforcing that law. No, I know different.
You know, members of law enforcement are trying to make
their own decisions. But I'm certainly you know, calling on
law enforcement to not enforce this given yesterday's ruling, while
(07:12):
we look at some of the other cases that are pending,
and you know, what needs to be done now to
you know, put any guidance in place for our law
enforcement communities across the state. And what I you know,
what I hope we will not see is you know,
there's a there's a big difference between somebody that's you know,
carrying a weapon in a holster. You know, when I
see that, you know, in other states, you know, the
(07:33):
large majority of other states already have open carry. It
gives me a comfort. But you always have some of
these crazy guys that walk around, you know, and you know,
a large rifle on their back, and that's what starts
to make businesses and people uncomfortable. And you know a
lot of them are not necessarily doing it in responsible fashion.
(07:53):
So we're very excited to see the Second Amendment further
restored here in the state of Florida. But if somebody
crosses the line, if somebody is engaging in a way
that's violent, dangerous, threatening, we're going to crack down on them.
We don't want them, you know, ruining it for everybody else.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Lucally in Delray Beach, the saga over the pride display
at a prominent downtown intersection has has come to a head,
so the the city did legally challenged. They decided not
to provide information to the administrator in Orlando overseeing the
(08:32):
case last Friday, instead tried to get her removed. Florida
Department of Transportation has come out this week on multiple
occasions and has painted over that display. The city has
decided to join a lawsuit with Miami Beach in Fort
Lauderdale challenging the Florida Department of Transportation over this.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Your thoughts, well, we look forward to take you know,
taking this on in court. We're right on the law. People, certainly,
you know, have First Amendment right, but those rights don't
allow you to take colorful, distracting displays into public places
where there's traffic, in intersections and cross walks. There's certainly
(09:11):
strong evidence to suggest that when you have all these
distracting things can make it unsafe for drivers. So we've
got a very legitimate, important public policy purpose for the
restrictions here on this graffiti. We're treating it equally to everybody.
We're not picking and choosing winners and losers on the messaging. Unfortunately,
(09:32):
you've got one side and one group that doesn't want
to follow the law and wants to double down. So
we feel good about our legal arguments. We will certainly
make them in court, and we're going to do everything
we can to hold local governments accountable that don't want
to follow the law.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Speaking of accountability, somebody who's been on your radar, Monique Orl,
the prosecutor once removed by Governor de Santis in Orlando,
then elected again after her removal in a case involving
stand your ground situation. Away a woman who was being
beaten by a man after a accident and then an
(10:06):
instigation on her part.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Tell us about this, sure, well, our problem with Monique
Wurel is typically that she won't bring cases, she'll let
dangerous people go free, and she will not prosecute. So
now we've got a case where she is prosecuting this woman.
She's prosecuting her with second degree murder. But if you
look at the video evidence, if you talk to the
witnesses nearby, this woman was just in her car. She'd
(10:31):
been in some sort of you know, road rage, spat
a disagreement, and where those happen, they typically don't end
this way. But the gentleman in the other car got
out of his vehicle, came to her parked car, ripped
open the door here multiple times, and then after pummeling her,
he tried to drag her out of the car onto
the road. Florida law allows self defense. We have a
(10:52):
standard ground law. If somebody is engaged in a forcible
felony and is hurting you and is making you fear
for your health and safety, the right to use deadly force.
When she was being yanked out of that car, she
grabbed a weapon she lawfully owned and fired it, So
we stand by her. I believe the State Attorney Waurel
is acting an error here. We've called on her to
(11:12):
correct it. If this gets up to appeal, we certainly
will weigh in and make sure everybody knows that the
state attorney's wrong here. We believe in self defense. If
my wife's send that car, you better believe I don't
want her getting beaten and dragged out into the road,
you know, before she's able to protect herself.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Amen, Florida Attorney General James Southmeyer, thank you very much
for the time.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Yeah, thank you for having me. Always a pleasure.
Two sides to the story. There's only one side to
the facts. Welcome to the Brian Mud Show, and thank
you for listening on this solemn day as we.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Are recognizing the twenty fourth anniversary of nine to eleven
and honoring the life of the great Charlie Kirk. So
much that's going on in our state, so much to
talk to our state's attorney general about. We start with
the legendary Charlie Kirk. James Outhmeyer joining us now.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Good morning, good morning, Yeah, thank you for having me.
It's the solemn day. Indeed, you know what we saw
yesterday was you know what happens ultimately when the left
and evildoers, you know, they can't win because they don't
have the truth. They can't win and debate. And Charlie
was a friend. He believed very much in debate and
discourse and the exchange of ideas always in and you know,
(01:00):
in a peaceful fashion. So it's tragic what happened. I
know it's gonna you know, cause a lot of conservative speakers,
people advocating for what's right and just and true to
clam up and engage in more security measures. And we
absolutely have to be safe. But you know I'm emerging. Everybody,
There's no better time than now to continue, you know,
(01:20):
speaking for first principle, speaking for truth, because we cannot
let we can't let evil silence us.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
James on that note, I was thinking about this, and
I'm an extra product of the eighties. I am a
Reagan Conservative. I am a Rush baby as well. And
for a lot of people, I think a lot of
younger adults and even you know, many teenagers.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
He was their Rush Limbaugh, and Donald Trump is their
Ronald Reagan in many ways, as heinous as horrific as
this is, I take a look at the lasting generational
impact that Reagan and Rush had and still have every
single day on people like me, and I think about
(02:13):
the influence that he will have and certainly our president
for younger generations.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
You're exactly right when it came to going into the
enemy territory of higher education campuses, where you know, leftist,
communist agendas are being pushed heavily on our young people.
Charlie was a trailblazer. He was really a one of
a kind going into this enemy territory and winning with ideas,
(02:42):
winning with truth. So I think he you know, he
changed the hearts and minds of you know, tens of
hundreds of thousands of people. And I think the President
said it best. I mean, he will be a legend
and what happened to him only further enshrines that legendary status.
And I'm excited to see the conservative movement, the young
(03:03):
conservative movement, rally around what Charlie believed in and you know,
continue to preach further and higher.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
James, how important is it from a law enforcement perspective
to maintain open discourse, including with controversial figures on college
campuses and the immediate aftermath of this, you have a
lot of discussion out there that a lot of colleges
are just going to say, well, we can't do things
like this anymore, we can't secure it. It's not talk
(03:32):
about that a little bit if you would. And also,
you know the security from the state's perspective.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Absolutely well, you know security measures are going to have
to be implemented, and you know it's going to there's
going to have to be a tighter approach in many respects.
But we have to have discourse on campuses. It's what
our founding fathers cared so much about. They believe very
much in First Amendment principles, the ability to express ideas,
(04:02):
to disagree to even question, you know, the views of
our leaders. We have to ensure that that continues. It's
healthy for democracy, it's healthy for the future of our country,
and it's healthy for the upbringing of our children. But
we've got to look, it's a different world and we
have to treat it as such, and we have got
to implement rule of law. We see these tragic situations
(04:24):
like the events on the train, you know, just a
heart wrenching situation, and now Charlie, and it just shows
that we've got to hold criminals accountable. We've got to
crack down. We cannot be run like cities, you know,
Chicago and New York in LA where we just allow
senseless murder after senseless murder. We have to take these seriously.
(04:47):
I hope they find this guy. I hope they bring
the death penalty in several of these recent cases and
make it clear we do not tolerate lawlessness here in
the United States of America.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
At you Tah's governor emphasizing yesterday that they do have
the death penalty in that state. We're speaking with Florida's
Attorney General, James Uthmeyer a historic decision in Florida yesterday
for First District Court of Appeals ruling that Florida's ban
on open carrying is not constitutional. So tell us a
(05:23):
little bit about this ruling and also the implications.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Well this, you know, this ruling, it was kind of
an unusual day to get it right before the Charlie
Kirk situation. So I haven't gone through to unpack every aspect,
but I agree very much with the First DCA that
the gun restrictions here in Florida, including the open carry prohibition,
are inconsistent with the Constitution and the interpretation of our
(05:51):
constitution going back to founding principles. So the decision's right.
I will not be appealing the decision. So for now,
this is the law of the land. I know there's
some litigation and other jurisdictions that we're monitoring, but the
prohibition on brandishing a weapon now in Florida is unconstitutional.
You know, we'll look at this the legislature. Obviously, we'll
(06:14):
have to come back and do some clean up given
what's on the books here in Florida statutes. But it
was nice to see judges making the right call, following
the law is written. Despite some of the policy debates
and you know, emotional pushes from different sides. That's what
judges are supposed to do. They're supposed to follow the
laws written and not be legislators themselves when they disagree
(06:36):
with what the law is.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And just from a point of clarity, as you are
the top law enforcement official in the state, those who
are legally able to possess are able to open carry
in the state of Florida.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Today, correct, I mean, we're not going to be enforcing
the law. It's still on the books, but given that ruling,
we will not be enforcing that law. No, I know different.
You know, members of law enforcement are trying to make
their own decisions. But I'm certainly you know, calling on
law enforcement to not enforce this given yesterday's ruling, while
(07:12):
we look at some of the other cases that are pending,
and you know, what needs to be done now to
you know, put any guidance in place for our law
enforcement communities across the state. And what I you know,
what I hope we will not see is you know,
there's a there's a big difference between somebody that's you know,
carrying a weapon in a holster. You know, when I
see that, you know, in other states, you know, the
(07:33):
large majority of other states already have open carry. It
gives me a comfort. But you always have some of
these crazy guys that walk around, you know, and you know,
a large rifle on their back, and that's what starts
to make businesses and people uncomfortable. And you know a
lot of them are not necessarily doing it in responsible fashion.
(07:53):
So we're very excited to see the Second Amendment further
restored here in the state of Florida. But if somebody
crosses the line, if somebody is engaging in a way
that's violent, dangerous, threatening, we're going to crack down on them.
We don't want them, you know, ruining it for everybody else.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Lucally in Delray Beach, the saga over the pride display
at a prominent downtown intersection has has come to a head,
so the the city did legally challenged. They decided not
to provide information to the administrator in Orlando overseeing the
(08:32):
case last Friday, instead tried to get her removed. Florida
Department of Transportation has come out this week on multiple
occasions and has painted over that display. The city has
decided to join a lawsuit with Miami Beach in Fort
Lauderdale challenging the Florida Department of Transportation over this.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Your thoughts, well, we look forward to take you know,
taking this on in court. We're right on the law. People, certainly,
you know, have First Amendment right, but those rights don't
allow you to take colorful, distracting displays into public places
where there's traffic, in intersections and cross walks. There's certainly
(09:11):
strong evidence to suggest that when you have all these
distracting things can make it unsafe for drivers. So we've
got a very legitimate, important public policy purpose for the
restrictions here on this graffiti. We're treating it equally to everybody.
We're not picking and choosing winners and losers on the messaging. Unfortunately,
(09:32):
you've got one side and one group that doesn't want
to follow the law and wants to double down. So
we feel good about our legal arguments. We will certainly
make them in court, and we're going to do everything
we can to hold local governments accountable that don't want
to follow the law.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Speaking of accountability, somebody who's been on your radar, Monique Orl,
the prosecutor once removed by Governor de Santis in Orlando,
then elected again after her removal in a case involving
stand your ground situation. Away a woman who was being
beaten by a man after a accident and then an
(10:06):
instigation on her part.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Tell us about this, sure, well, our problem with Monique
Wurel is typically that she won't bring cases, she'll let
dangerous people go free, and she will not prosecute. So
now we've got a case where she is prosecuting this woman.
She's prosecuting her with second degree murder. But if you
look at the video evidence, if you talk to the
witnesses nearby, this woman was just in her car. She'd
(10:31):
been in some sort of you know, road rage, spat
a disagreement, and where those happen, they typically don't end
this way. But the gentleman in the other car got
out of his vehicle, came to her parked car, ripped
open the door here multiple times, and then after pummeling her,
he tried to drag her out of the car onto
the road. Florida law allows self defense. We have a
(10:52):
standard ground law. If somebody is engaged in a forcible
felony and is hurting you and is making you fear
for your health and safety, the right to use deadly force.
When she was being yanked out of that car, she
grabbed a weapon she lawfully owned and fired it, So
we stand by her. I believe the State Attorney Waurel
is acting an error here. We've called on her to
(11:12):
correct it. If this gets up to appeal, we certainly
will weigh in and make sure everybody knows that the
state attorney's wrong here. We believe in self defense. If
my wife's send that car, you better believe I don't
want her getting beaten and dragged out into the road,
you know, before she's able to protect herself.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Amen, Florida Attorney General James Southmeyer, thank you very much
for the time.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Yeah, thank you for having me. Always a pleasure.
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