By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier considers the state statute banning bump stocks and “trigger enhancements used by firearm owners for lawful purposes” unconstitutional, he announced Friday.
“People are being arrested and prosecuted under a 2018 law that banned ‘bump stocks,’” AG Uthmeier said in a post on X. “As currently written, the overly broad law appears to restrict the use of trigger enhancements used by firearms owners for lawful purposes, subjecting them to five years in prison. Today, my office issued a legal opinion recognizing the law as unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, and this office will not defend a conviction under the statute going forward.”
His letter spells out the Attorney General’s findings:
“This opinion resolves the following question of law; whether the bump-fire stock prohibition in section 790.222, Florida Statutes, contravenes the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Uthmeier wrote in the letter. “After careful consideration, I have determined it does.”
The convoluted state statute has not been used much since 2018, when former-Gov. Rick Scott, now a U.S. Senator, signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which created the law.
“When signing the Act into law, Governor Scott reportedly remarked that ‘I’ll have to give a little and make a compromise.’ The Constitution, however, brooks little compromise when it comes to citizens’ fundamental rights,” Uthmeier wrote.
Skyeler “Bleau” Jackson, 24, believes he was the first person ever charged with the Florida law that also prohibits the possession of Forced Reset Triggers, or FRTs, which are completely legal in most other free states.
FRTs aren’t even mentioned in the statute, which bans “bump-fire stocks” as well as anything else that can “alter the rate of fire of a firearm to mimic automatic weapon fire or which is used to increase the rate of fire to a faster rate than is possible for a person to fire such semiautomatic firearm unassisted by a kit, a tool, an accessory, or a device.”
Jackson was arrested by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in February and spent nine days in jail after “undercover” deputies purchased several FRTs from him at a public gun show held in West Palm Beach
Deputies also seized more than $30,000 worth of his property, his cell phone and cash.
Jaskson, a native Texan who lives in San Antonio, was thrilled when he learned of Uthmeier’s decision Friday.
“I think that it’s a great reaction—the people have spoken—and it’s a great time for gun owners in Florida,” Jackson said. “There’s obviously a lot of support, and your AG is stating the obvious: the statute is unconstitutional and it’s never been enforced, except for me.”
He still faces up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines, but now he says he has “hope.”
“Your attorney general has the power to stop my prosecution, which is currently active,” Jackson said. “I am somewhat relieved and I am excited to see what the AG will do with his opinion.”
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