from the senate bill.. the red words are ADDITIONS to the existing statue...
Quote:
(a) Is a resident of the United States and a citizen of the United States or a permanent resident alien of the United States, as determined by the United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services,or is a consular security official of a foreign government that maintains diplomatic relations and
treaties of commerce, friendship, and navigation with the United
States and is certified as such by the foreign government and by
the appropriate embassy
"An act relating to concealed weapons licenses; amending s.
790.06, F.S.; extending the period that a license is
valid;
specifying that the United States residency
required to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon
or firearm means that the licensee must be a United States
citizen or a permanent resident alien of the United
States; providing legislative intent; providing
applicability; providing an effective date."
If one follows this bill through both houses and through all of the committees and reads the interpretations, they are all identical. Even better, here is the interpretation by committee, etc......
The bill as originally filed explanation:
Extends the period that a license is valid. Specifies that the United States residency required to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon or firearm means that the licensee must be a United States citizen or a permanent resident alien of the United States. Provides legislative intent and applicability, etc. EFFECTIVE DATE: 06/10/2008.
By the committee of Commerce:
An act relating to concealed weapons licenses; amending s.
3
790.06, F.S.;
specifying that the United States residency
4
required to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon
5
or firearm means that the licensee must be a United States
6
citizen or a permanent resident alien of the United
7
States; providing legislative intent; providing
8
applicability; providing an effective date.
Rather than wasting a whole lot of bandwidth here... this is the link to the analysis of the bill by the houses and all of the pertinent committees, where they state that "resident" is to be interpreted to mean "citizen", which makes good sense, of course, in view of the recent supreme court decision upholding the rights of "We the people" as opposed to "We the residents". There are an awful lot of Americans who are retired and travel or perhaps work outside of the country on a regular basis, living with relatives when at home, etc. All of the aforementioned are "We the People" people. I think that the legislature, in interpretation, and the committees' analysis of the interpretation of "resident" to mean "citizen" were correct. Anyway, I happen to be one of those on-again, off-again residents who live outside of the USA most of the time but are American citizens. Let's see where this goes when I reapply for a permit. It's almost moot as we intend to retire permanently to Florida in about three or four years, but the point is that all citizens should have the rights of "We the People".
http://www.flsenate.gov/session/index.cfm?Mode=Bills&SubMenu=1&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&BillNum=0948
