A.G. Gancarski
Republicans, Democrats and independents in Jacksonville all agree that people who go to City Hall should do so without their firearms.
A new poll from the University of North Florida finds 76% of locals don’t want people to strap up for public comment, while just 23% believe that guns are necessary accoutrements for petitioning local government.
The issue is a talker in Jacksonville given revelations that security during nearly two years of Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration required people carrying guns to City Hall and the Yates Building to sign in, listing personal information in what critics call an illegal gun registry.
The Mayor has disclaimed responsibility. But she also told local media that as a permitless carry law took effect when she took office in July 2023, her team explored turning City Hall into a police substation.
While Republicans have pounced on the story line in an effort to undermine her re-election campaign, the poll shows that even 68% of GOP registered voters want City Hall to be a gun-free zone. This suggests the issue won’t be of much use for challengers in the next cycle.
Interestingly, older voters seem to be the most convinced that there is no reason to have guns in the building, with 83% of senior citizens taking that position.
The UNF PORL Jax Speaks Summer Survey consists of 742 registered voters in Duval County, and was conducted from May 22 through May 30 by the Public Opinion Research Lab at UNF.
10 comments
Patricia Vail
June 3, 2025 at 5:22 am
Glad to hear I am in the majority of folks who do not want guns in City Hall. The 2d Amendment has become a fetish for folks. As an amateur American History buff I can only wonder what our founding folks would have thought both about the interpretation of their history and the number of daily killings with these weapons. This is nothing to be proud of.
MH/Duuuval
June 3, 2025 at 9:23 am
I recommend Prof. Carol Anderson’s book about the 2A that argues the South pushed for it as a means of dealing with the imminent reality of uprisings by the enslaved.
Paul Passarelli
June 3, 2025 at 8:49 am
When the Government fears the Citizenry, there is Liberty.
When the Citizenry fears the Government, there is Tyranny.
If the people of Jax are fearful of a lawfully armed citizen walking into City Hall, because they believe that said law abiding person has been pushed to the point of using that weapon, then there are multiple underlying problems of injustice that are regularly happening!
The far far better solution is to eliminate the source of those injustices. Purge the bad laws from the books, purge the bad politicians from the halls of government, purge the bad employees from the government payrolls.
Every person in government that even subtly believes that they have a *RIGHT* to exercise *POWER* over the people, needs to be demoted or fired. We refer to government jobs “Public Service”, it’s important to remind those public servants of that on a regular basis, and even to make an example of those that are determined to ignore the fact that their salary was our tax dollars!
MH/Duuuval
June 3, 2025 at 9:18 am
Not that surveys will alter the minority dedicated to arming every person in every situation. Until the so-called GOP breaks free of the 2A militants, things are likely to get worse for the reasonable majority who don’t agree with the proliferation of firearms.
The gun-promoting MAGAs on the Jax City Council may have overplayed their hand on this subject. The public eventually tires of the tail wagging the dog.
Rich7553
June 4, 2025 at 1:27 am
Whether or not you agree is irrelevant as to enumerated rights.
MH/Duuuval
June 4, 2025 at 8:37 am
There’s a basic problem with legislators who continuously promote a dangerous minority position to proliferate weapons of mass destruction. Come to your senses, Rich — people are now alert to your madness.
BTW: The majority disagree with your interpretation of 2A, which is always subject to judicial interpretation and legislative alteration.
Plejssy v. Ferguson and ring a bell?
MH/Duuuval
June 4, 2025 at 8:42 am
The Constitution can be amended as US history shows. Human enslavement was once protected by the Constitution and women were forbidden the ballot.
Jean Hoover
June 3, 2025 at 10:23 am
As an elderly woman who carries a concealed handgun, I am okay with the laws already in place. I don’t see any reason to bring my Glock into a city building. That being said, a compromise would be to have access to storage while in the building. The streets around City Hall are not safe. If a person feels the need to be armed for self-protection when walking to and from City Hall, there should be a solution.
Rich7553
June 4, 2025 at 1:25 am
Commenters, poll respondents, and even the author of this article seem to incorrectly conflate “city hall” with “meetings of a governing body.” Carry in a city council meeting is and has been prohibited by statute, however that does not apply to the rest of the building. Just as at the state capitol, one cannot carry into a meeting of the legislature or its committees, it is perfectly legal to carry in the rest of the capitol building. Nonetheless, the keeping of a log or list of gun owners is a felony violation of 790.335 Florida Statutes, poll results notwithstanding.
MH/Duuuval
June 4, 2025 at 6:05 pm
The MAGA has crested in Florida. 2A fanatics have failed to win their hearts’ desire: open display of firearms in public. A clear majority don’t buy it nor do they buy the foolish support for weapons of war, high-volume magazines, ghost guns, silencers.