On April 15, 2008, Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed the Preservation
and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of
2008. The act, which takes effect July 1, 2008, will impose significant
restrictions on the ability of employers and businesses to prohibit and
monitor the presence of firearms within automobiles owned by employees and
customers on their property. The law is intended “to codify the
longstanding legislative policy of the state that individual citizens have
a constitutional right to keep and bear arms … and that these rights
are not abrogated by virtue of a citizen becoming a customer, employee or
invitee of a business entity.” The act’s approval comes less
than a month after the United States Supreme Court heard argument in
District of Columbia v. Heller, a case in which the Court is
expected to analyze the issue of whether an individual citizen has a right
to own a firearm under the Second Amendment of the United States
Constitution.
