- May 4, 2024
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The Volusia County Council unanimously repealed a county ordinance mandating a three-day waiting period and criminal background checks for firearms purchased in public places at its April 16 meeting.
The ordinance, Chapter 78-1 in the Volusia County Code of Ordinances, was originally adopted in 1999. The repeal will allow the purchase of firearms on all property generally accessible by the public, if the seller is not a federally licensed firearm retailer, Assistant County Attorney Christopher Ryan said.
County Councilman Danny Robins asked the repeal proposal be brought forward at the council's March 19 meeting. Robins owns a sporting goods store that is licensed to sell firearms.
"[This repeal] does not impact the background check requirements imposed on licensed retailers under federal or state statutes," Ryan said.
Florida’s constitution in Section 5 Article VII gives counties the right to impose its own waiting period of three to five days after the purchase of a firearm and a background check. The new ordinance repealing the wait period and background checks said the “county believes such a restriction on the private sale of handguns is an unnecessary infringement on Second Amendment rights.”
The repeal followed just days after the federal government closed a loophole on gun purchases in public places like gun shows. The new Department of Justice ruling will require background checks and licenses for anyone who selling private firearms predominately for profits, Ryan said, including online, by mail, at flea markets and gun shows.
Several residents pleaded the council to take caution and not re-open the loophole that the federal government was trying to close through its ruling. Deltona City Commissioner Dana McCool, who originally protested the decision at the March 19 meeting, said on April 16 that a three day waiting period is not infringing on anyone's rights.
"In essence, what this council is going to be saying is that you know better than federal authorities and experts," McCool said. "And although you might fancy guns, I don't consider anyone sitting up here an actual expert."
Council member Jake Johansson pointed out that the county only has about nine gun shows in a year. So while the waiting period may prevent bad choices nine times in a year, he said, the rest of the year anyone can get a gun from a friend or family member without pause.
“I'm trying to figure out what why being in the public is different than being in the private," Johansson said, "as far as as far as the the argument that unstable people can buy weapons."
Robins said the federal legislation does nothing.
"This has more holes in it than Swiss cheese," he said. "It's a joke."
