Michael Moline
A Florida House member has reintroduced legislation that would allow people to carry firearms inside airport terminals.
State Rep. Jake Raburn, a Lithia Republican, filed HB 6001 on Wednesday.
The measure would eliminate the words “passenger terminal” of airports from a list of places where state law forbids people to carry guns.
The measure also would eliminate language requiring that guns be “encased for shipment” in aircraft baggage holds.
Raburn submitted his proposal for the 2017 legislative session. He proposed similar legislation during the 2016 session, but no committee ever debated the measure.
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee approved a version of the bill introduced by Sen. Wilton Simpson, a Trilby Republican.
This year’s bill would take effect July 1.
People still would be barred from carrying guns in “any place where the carrying of firearms is prohibited by federal law” — generally defined as the “sterile area” beyond security checkpoints, according to Florida Carry, the gun rights organization.
The organization says that 44 states allow guns inside other areas in airport terminals, but Florida is not one of them.
