Top Florida Democrat Lauds Trump Admin Loosening Gun Restrictions as Second Amendment ‘Victory’

AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File

Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party (FDP), issued a statement Thursday applauding an announcement by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) that would loosen restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms by medical marijuana users.

At first glance, loosening gun restrictions might seem to be a surprising position for a Democrat to take, much less a state party chair. But Fried has a long history of not being as strenuously anti-gun rights as many others on the left are.

One of her previous gigs was Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner, a statewide elected position that oversees medical marijuana programs and the issuance of gun permits.

(Note: when Fried was elected Ag Commissioner in 2018, Florida had concealed carry permits. Since then, the law has been amended, and — after a court challenge — the current status is to allow open carry without a permit.)

I interviewed Fried in March 2019, a few months after she was sworn in, on the topic of her office’s processing of gun permits. She told me that concealed carry permits were being approved and sent out to the applicants about one-third quicker than they had been under her predecessor, Adam Putnam, a Republican who consistently received “A” and “A+” ratings from the NRA during his political career.

According to Fried, Putnam’s office had been taking almost the maximum 90 days allowed by the law at that time, but her team was “handling everything in a more efficient manner,” and wait times were “down to an average of 58 days.”

Fried called it a “major priority” to reduce the wait times; they continued to improve during her tenure. In a June 2022 interview with Florida Politics, Fried said even though her office processed a record number of concealed carry permits, they were still able to get wait times down to 10 days for applicants with no criminal history and 12 days for those who had past criminal records that required review.

Fried has been an advocate for the expansion of marijuana legalization throughout her career, working as a lobbyist for the medical marijuana industry before getting into politics and teaching cannabis law seminars at the University of Florida College of Law.

Near the end of her time as Ag Commissioner, Fried filed a lawsuit challenging the ATF regulations that prohibited those who participate in state medical marijuana programs from buying and owning guns.

Thursday, the ATF released a new interim final rule that proposes an update to the definition of “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance,” a group who are banned from buying or possessing firearms. The current version of the rule has been interpreted to cause applicants who have used marijuana a single time in the past year to fail the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background check.

The proposed amendments to the rule would instead emphasize the prohibited use as “a pattern of [unlawful] use or possession,” rather than one single instance, and clarified that “unlawful use” means “without a lawful prescription or in a manner substantially different from that prescribed by a licensed physician.”

The ATF’s filing with the interim rule noted that it was necessary “to address the harm to constitutional rights caused by erroneously denying a person a firearm.”

Fried shared a report about the ATF announcement on her social media accounts Thursday morning, calling it “major news” and declaring that she “knew we were on the right side” when she filed the lawsuit in 2022.

Later that day, FDP sent out a press release with a statement from Fried:

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried Responds to ATF Move to End Gun Ban for Marijuana Users

TALLAHASSEE, FL – The Florida Democratic Party Chair, Nikki Fried released the following statement after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) announced moves to loosen rules that bar marijuana users from being able to lawfully purchase and possess firearms.

“This is a major development for the restoration of rights of marijuana users. As Commissioner of Agriculture, I sued the ATF on behalf of Florida’s medical marijuana patients whose Second Amendment rights were infringed upon by this policy.

“Those impacted by this change include over 1 million Florida veterans, who after proudly serving our country should not be forced to choose between access to life-saving medicine and their right to self defense. This change is a victory for patient access and Second Amendment rights.”

Reached for comment by Mediaite, Fried reiterated how pleased she was to see the proposed rule change, calling it “Huge!!!!”, and confirmed it was connected to the arguments presented in her lawsuit. The Supreme Court is also considering a case directly challenging the gun ban for marijuana users, U.S. v. Hemani, which is scheduled to be heard on March 2.

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