My home when I was a child had a solid foundational belief. As immigrants, my family believed in being armed to make sure the mistakes of Cuba cannot happen in America.

I am the first in my family to be born in the US. That may make my understanding of what the Second Amendment is all about all the more important. I fully understand the sacrifices made by past generations to protect and defend the civil right of Americans to be armed.

Our rights are enshrined in the belief that all people are created equal and have the same legal and civil access to these rights. The government is answerable to the people, not the other way around.

My Cuban immigrant parents taught me the importance of the right to keep and bear arms. In 1959 my family’s homeland was usurped by Fidel Castro, and it was a downhill ride to despotism from that point forward. My family was lucky enough to escape to the US in 1961 and we have owned firearms ever since. My parents wanted to make sure that what happened in Cuba would never be repeated here in the United States..

I understand the need for individual gun rights because of the persecution my family suffered in Cuba at the hands of Castro. I understand that our natural rights are enshrined in the belief that all people are created equal, having equal standing before the law, and that these rights are to be secured and protected by the government, never granted by it. A right that is granted can be taken away.

My entire family is grateful for the shining example of liberty and freedom that America represents to the entire world, and that the U.S. Constitution specifically protects our God-given rights in stark contrast to the oppressive regime that lies 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

A Constitutional Carry Bill Has Been Introduced in Florida

Having a right means being able to freely exercise it without asking for permission first. Constitutional carry simply means that if a person can lawfully own a gun, they can carry it concealed without being granted a permit by government..

Constitutional carry is the law in 17 states including three in the “liberal” northeast. The good news is Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini has introduced HB 123 that would restore the true meaning of what it means to exercise our right to keep and bear arms, freely, and without asking for government permission first.

Republicans control the Florida House, Senate and the Governor’s mansion, but HB 123 has a steep hill to climb in order to be signed into law. I don’t want to see Florida or this country slide toward what my family experienced in Cuba. Expanding constitutional carry is insurance against that happening.

Read more at The Truth About Guns