{"id":341299,"date":"2026-07-15T20:09:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341299\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T20:09:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:09:43","slug":"leon-county-commission-votes-to-allow-open-carry-in-libraries-updates-card-eligibility-requirements-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341299\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon County Commission votes to allow open carry in libraries, updates card eligibility requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/07\/08\/library-gun-policy-card-age-limit-agenda-leon-county-vote-next-week\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/07\/08\/library-gun-policy-card-age-limit-agenda-leon-county-vote-next-week\/\">Changes to Leon County library policies <\/a>were passed unanimously during a Tuesday Leon County commission meeting. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The proposed changes included updates to eligibility requirements for a library card and new guidelines for the library code of conduct. People are now allowed to open carry in the library and the age to obtain a library card independently is now from 16 to 18.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Commissioner David O\u2019Keefe began the discussion on the proposed changes for open carry in the library, which County Attorney Chasity O\u2019Steen said Leon County could face \u201cmultiple consequences\u201d if it does not stay in compliance with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2025\/10\/16\/tallahassee-confronts-new-open-carry-reality\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2025\/10\/16\/tallahassee-confronts-new-open-carry-reality\/\">state law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-center\">More news out of the Big Bend:<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The policy that would change eligibility requirements for 16- and 17-year-olds drew extensive discussion from commissioners. O\u2019Keefe made a motion to accept all of the new policies except the changes in eligibility for 16- and 17-year-olds. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe should not make it difficult for 16- and 17-year-olds to access the library,\u201d O\u2019Keefe said. County Commissioner Nick Maddox seconded the motion, saying they shouldn\u2019t make it \u201ctough\u201d for students.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">O\u2019Keefe confirmed with Leroy Collins Main Library Director Pamela Monroe that of 16- and 17-year-olds, 1,220 have fines on their accounts, totaling $3,500. Monroe said that 16- and 17-year-olds are not physically responsible for those cards or overdue fines, so they cannot collect them, which led to the proposed policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">O\u2019Keefe\u2019s initial motion failed 3-3 with Commissioner Bill Proctor out of the chamber. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">A motion to approve all the proposed policy changes was then voted on unanimously. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WCTV.tv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wctvnews\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WCTVEyewitnessNews\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nextdoor<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WCTV\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">X<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WCTV\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Have a news tip or see an error? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/07\/15\/leon-county-commission-votes-allow-open-carry-libraries-updates-card-eligibility-requirements\/mailto:news@wctv.tv?subject=Correction%20Needed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Write to us here<\/a>. Please include the article\u2019s headline in your message.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2024\/12\/18\/download-free-wctv-mobile-streaming-apps-today\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) &#8211; Changes to Leon County library policies were passed unanimously during a Tuesday Leon County&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[20262,140189,140190,1289,40504,140191,634,115,122355,232,234,233],"class_list":["post-341299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-commissioner-david-okeefe","tag-county-attorney-chasity-h-osteen","tag-county-commissioner-nick-maddox","tag-leon-county","tag-leon-county-main-library","tag-leroy-collins-main-library-director","tag-local","tag-news","tag-pamela-monroe","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}