DeSantis' "Second Amendment Summer": More Guns, More Danger for Miami?

In his 2025-26 budget proposal, Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested an eight-week sales tax "holiday" for firearms and ammunition.

By Natasha Yee

February 7, 2025

Image: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a podium with his arms spread out

Ron DeSantis' "Second Amendment Summer" would create an eight-week tax holiday for firearms, ammunition, and related accessories. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Gov. Ron DeSantis is adept at producing interesting (if not terrifying) headlines, whether he's endorsing an anti-vax surgeon general, threatening to send undocumented immigrants to Guantánamo Bay, or bending over backward to ensure that recreational weed never sees the light of day in the Sunshine State.

So when we heard that his $115.6 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2025-26 outlines an eight-week sales tax hiatus for gun and ammo purchases over the summer, we shouldn't have been surprised.

The firearm tax holiday is a new one, along with one that would halt taxes on boating fuel for two months. If Florida legislators approve the budget, the temporary tax savings would join those from previous years, including a disaster preparedness and back-to-school tax holiday.

The governor dubbed his new gun tax holiday "Second Amendment Summer," which would run from Memorial Day (May 26, 2025) through the Fourth of July and exempt "ammunition, firearms, and related accessories." DeSantis estimates that it will save Floridians $8 million.

"We are unveiling the Second Amendment summer tax holiday," DeSantis told the press as he announced the new budget proposal on February 3. "So from Memorial Day until the Fourth of July, you can get your ammunition, your firearms, and your accoutrements tax-free in the State of Florida."

But, in a county like Miami-Dade, where officials have, for more than 20 years, warned against firing guns into the air to celebrate Independence Day and New Year's Eve, the money saved could easily translate into lives lost. Just this past New Year's Eve 2024, stray bullets from celebratory gunfire killed 10-year-old Yaneliz Munguia, 50-year-old Angel Nunes, and 56-year-old Carmen Rosa Neira Ochoa.

According to the Trace, which investigates gun violence in the United States, Florida saw at least 20,803 shootings from 2014 to 2024, with 10,474 people killed and 17,015 injured. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and teens in the U.S.

Natasha Yee is news editor at Miami New Times. Prior to joining the team in December 2024, Natasha was an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting and a staff writer at Phoenix New Times. Before that, she worked as a high school English teacher in an urban school district. She holds a master’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

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