Commissioner Nikki Fried, Local Leaders Submit Joint Brief to Florida Supreme Court on Gun Preemption Case

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and local leaders filed a joint brief to the Florida Supreme Court in their ongoing challenge to Florida’s firearm preemption law. Florida’s state gun preemption law is considered one of the nation’s most extreme, portions of which were previously found unconstitutional. Commissioner Fried’s predecessor was a defendant in the case; in 2019, Fried directed the Attorney General to remove the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) from the state’s appeal and instead  filed a brief in December 2019 supporting the right of local cities and counties to pass local gun safety ordinances free from state interference.

“Enough is enough when it comes to inaction to prevent gun violence. And enough is enough when it comes to the strong-arm tactics being employed by Governor DeSantis and Florida Republicans – who are not only dictating one-size-fits-all policies to municipal leaders, but are also doling out draconian punishments to those who dare challenge their state mandates by instead doing the jobs they were elected to do and doing what they know is best to keep their communities safe,” said Commissioner Fried. “I thank all of the individuals, local governments, and organizations who are standing together to fight back against this attack on home rule. We are hopeful that the Florida Supreme Court will uphold the circuit court ruling of what we know to be true: that this law is not only dangerous but unconstitutional.”

Commissioner Fried and FDACS have joined in the legal filing and challenge by State Representative Dan Daley, Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank C. Ortis and the City of Pembroke Pines, Coconut Creek Mayor Becky Tooley and the City of Coconut Creek, Broward County, Leon County, Miami-Dade County, the City of Boca Raton, the City of Coral Gables, the City of Coral Springs, the Town of Cutler Bay, the City of Dunedin, the City of Fort Lauderdale, the City of Gainesville, the Village of Key Biscayne, the City of Lauderhill, the City of Maitland, the City of Miami Beach, the City of Miami Gardens, the City of Miramar, the City of North Miami, the City of North Miami Beach, the City of Orlando, the Village of Palmetto Bay, the Village of Pinecrest, the City of Pompano Beach, the City of Riviera Beach, the City of Safety Harbor, the City of South Miami, the City of St. Petersburg, the Town of Surfside, the City of Tallahassee, the City of Weston, the City of West Palm Beach, and the City of Wilton Manors. Additionally, amicus briefs in support of the Commissioner’s and local governments’ positions will be filed by the Florida Association of Counties, League of Women Voters of Florida, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and Equality Florida Institute, Inc., as well as legal scholars and professors from Harvard Law School, Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, University of Illinois College of Law, Willamette University College of Law, University of Virginia School of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law, Boston College Law, and Northern Illinois University College of Law.

Background:

Earlier this year, Commissioner Fried and a coalition of local governments asked the Supreme Court to take up their lawsuit against Florida’s law that threatens harsh financial penalties for localities that enact gun safety measures. In September, the Florida Supreme Court accepted jurisdiction to hear Commissioner Fried’s and local governments’ appeals of the First District Court of Appeals’ decision upholding the constitutionality of the penalty provisions in the preemption of firearm regulation statute.

Florida’s state firearm preemption law’s punitive provisions threaten local mayors and commissioners with fines, lawsuits, and removal from office for even considering local firearm safety measures. These provisions were found unconstitutional in July 2019, and have been called “severe.” Commissioner Fried had previously called the case’s appeal “not only a waste of taxpayer money and time, but the wrong direction for our state.” Forty-four states have some form of state preemption of local firearms ordinances, with Florida, Arizona, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas also having[ ] punitive preemption laws.

###