JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Our right to bear arms as Americans makes some Floridians feel safer after Colorado's Batman movie massacre.
"If somebody would have had a concealed weapon sitting in that front row this might not have been as bad as it was," said gun advocate, Max Franklin.
But some say our ability to carry guns forces us to live in fear.
"If somebody else has a gun obviously I'm going to need to protect myself but if another person doesn't have a gun I won't have a need to protect myself," said Tyson Martin, of Jacksonville.
It's a debate state senator Audrey Gibson says targets Florida's gun laws.
"Certainly you want to make sure every American and every constituent of the state of Florida certainly has the right to bear arms," she said. "Or on the other side of it, every American or every Florida constituent has the right to be safe."
For Gibson, this presents a sort of a paradox.
"It's a little scant considering the weapons of use once purchased are weapons that could harm people," she said.
In Florida, getting a gun is as simple as filling out and filing a 4473 packet with only a few pages of yes or no questions.
"If a person is a law abiding citizen they have a right to buy certain guns," said tactics specialist Gary Belson.
The questions include, are you a convicted felon, have you committed a misdemeanor, have you been adjudicated mentally defective. If you answer yes to any of those questions, you could be turned down to buy a gun, but Gibson says it would be easy for anyone to lie.
"How do you know if someone's telling the truth or not?" said Gibson. "You dont!"
Tactics specialist Gary Belson disagrees, he says Florida should be a model for other states as far as gun laws go.
"Ten thousandths of one percent who get the concealed weapons license in addition to this license have used guns in a crime two ten thousands of one percent," said Belson. "Name one program that's that successful."
With no criminal record, and no known history of mental health problems, James Holmes would have checked no to all of the questions on the 4473 form, that means there is a good chance he would have been able to buy a firearm in Florida.
