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Gun-wielding paramedics and other state laws that went into effect today

Posted at 10:03 AM, Jul 01, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-01 12:36:33-04

It’s July 1, which means new laws are going into effect across the country today. Here are the ones you should know.

Saving the environment, one ban at a time

Paramedics can carry pistols and other gun laws

  • In Florida, a new law allows paramedics and physicians to carry guns when responding to situations involving active shooters, hostages or other dangerous scenarios.
  • In Indiana, a law provides immunity for the use of force, even by guns, when a person reasonably believes that such force is necessary — even against claims from someone allegedly injured or damaged by such force. The law also allows people to carry guns into churches, even if the church is on school property. The measure was signed onstage at the National Rifle Association’s annual leadership forum in April.
  • California became the first state to require gun owners to pass a background check before they can buy ammunition.

Don’t use your phone while driving

Raising the age for buying tobacco

And more

  • In South Dakota, kids won’t have to worry about owing the state for their lemonade stands anymore. The new law dictates that children 18 and under do not have to pay sales taxes when selling personal property or providing a service if they earned less than $1,000. Another new law recognizes O’ceti Sakowin, consisting of the dialects of Lakota, Dakota and Nakota native tribes, as the state’s official indigenous language — making South Dakota just the third state behind Hawaii and Alaska to recognize an official indigenous language.
  • Florida now requires jails and prisons to provide incarcerated women with health-care products like soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and menstrual products.
  • Revenge porn is now a crime in Indiana, punishable by fines or jail time. Victims also can sue people who share sexually explicit or intimate photos of them without their consent.
  • Georgia raised the minimum age for marriage from 16 to 17, but only if a 17-year-old is emancipated from their parents. The age difference between the couple can’t be more than four years.