Open Carry Now Officially Legal in Florida: Know the Facts
It is now legal to open carry in Florida after a court ruled the state’s ban on the practice was unconstitutional.
September 25, 2025, marked the deadline for the state’s appellate judges to challenge the decision allowing open carry earlier in the month, making the practice officially legal in the state of Florida.
The decision was prompted following an appeal by Stanley Victor McDaniels, who was charged and convicted for openly carrying a firearm during a peaceful display on July 4th, 2022.
McDaniels appealed his conviction, arguing that the state’s open carry ban, which had been in effect since 1987, violated the Second Amendment. The Florida District Court of Appeal agreed, concluding that “open carry was the default mode of bearing arms that preserved the core of the Second Amendment right.” The court decided to throw out McDaniel’s conviction and ruled the state’s open carry ban was unconstitutional on September 10, 2025.
On September 15, Attorney General James Uthmeier issued guidance to Florida law enforcement, instructing them not to arrest or prosecute law-abiding citizens practicing open carry, stating that “open carry is the law of the state.”
The judges of the First District Court of Appeal had until September 25 to appeal the ruling, which they declined to do.
The open carry law in Florida has now changed, but some restrictions remain. Unauthorized persons, such as felons, are still prohibited from owning and carrying firearms in any manner. Additionally, actions such as menacing and brandishing in public places are still illegal.
Certain areas are still off-limits to open carry, including school, college, and university campuses or athletic events; career centers; vocational-technical centers; a “place of nuisance”; a law enforcement station; a detention facility, prison, or jail; a courthouse or courtroom; a polling place; a Legislature meeting; a mental health hospital; bars; Savannas State Reserve; in an airport passenger terminal; or anywhere it is federally illegal to carry a firearm.
Additionally, businesses and private property owners may still prohibit firearms.
To learn more about where firearms are and are not permitted, read Florida statute 790.
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