Florida

Very recent reversal: Florida's open-carry ban (Fla. Stat. §790.053) was struck down as unconstitutional by the First District Court of Appeal in McDaniels v. State (Sept 10, 2025). AG James Uthmeier issued a formal guidance memo on Sept 15, 2025 directing law enforcement/prosecutors statewide to stop enforcing the ban, effective Sept 25, 2025; he has since declined to appeal. Some individual sheriffs initially pushed back, so field practice may lag the legal reality — worth a note in the app. Narrow exceptions (hunting/fishing/camping, brief display) remain in the statute's text but are now largely superseded by the ruling for ordinary open carry.

Florida Statute §790.06's list of places a CWL does not authorize carry does not include churches. Carry is allowed unless the individual place of worship, as private property, prohibits it.

Fla. Stat. § 790.06(12)(a)(12) prohibits carry only in "any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, which portion... is primarily devoted to that purpose" — i.e., the bar counter/area, not the general dining room of a restaurant.

Florida law treats a vessel as a 'private conveyance' (Fla. Stat. § 810.011(3)), and Fla. Stat. § 790.25(3)(h) lets a CWFL holder (or holder of another state's recognized license) carry a concealed handgun on a boat. Separately, § 790.25(3)(h)/(n) lets anyone — licensed or not — carry a firearm openly while fishing, camping, or lawfully hunting, or going to/from such an expedition. So a boater with a CWFL is clearly covered; federal waters beyond the 3/9-mile state boundary would shift to federal/Coast Guard jurisdiction rather than FL license law.

Fla. Stat. §790.06(12)(a)13 lists 'any courthouse' as a place where a concealed weapon license is not valid — this covers the whole building (clerk's offices, corridors, etc.), not just courtrooms, with only a sitting-judge exception. A separate clause bars carry into an actual meeting of a county/municipal governing body or the Legislature, but a DMV counter or city hall office that is not hosting such a meeting is not itself listed as off-limits.

Fla. Stat. § 790.06(12)(a) bars licensees from carrying into any college or university facility, public or private; the only carve-out is for non-lethal stun guns carried by the school's own students/employees, and firearms may be stored in a vehicle in campus parking.

Florida has no statute requiring a specific 'gun sign' format; a business may prohibit carry by posted notice or a verbal request to leave, and refusal to leave becomes trespass under Fla. Stat. § 810.09. Absent any notice, carry in an ordinary retail/grocery business is lawful.

No FL statute requires advance owner consent for carry on non-public private property; carry is broadly permitted except at explicitly listed locations (Fla. Stat. 790.06), and general trespass law (Fla. Stat. 810.09) requires actual warning/notice before presence becomes unlawful.

Florida Statute § 790.06(12)(a)14, read directly from the official Florida Legislature statutes site, prohibits a concealed weapon license holder from carrying into 'the passenger terminal and sterile area of any airport' — the whole public terminal, not just the post-screening sterile area — with a narrow exception for a firearm properly encased for checked baggage. This is a well-known trap because Florida is otherwise a broad shall-issue state; many travelers wrongly assume the ban is limited to the area past TSA.

Two independent reasons: (1) Florida enacted permitless (constitutional) carry effective July 1, 2023 (HB 543), so a license generally isn't required at all for eligible adults; and (2) even before that, Fla. Stat. §790.25(4)(a) has long let anyone 18+ lawfully possessing a handgun keep it in a private vehicle with NO license as long as it is 'securely encased or otherwise not readily accessible for immediate use.'

Fla. Stat. §790.06(12)'s list of places a concealed weapon license does not authorize carry (courthouses, polling places, schools, bars, airports, government meetings, etc. — 15 categories) does not include hospitals or medical offices generally. A separate, narrower law (Fla. Stat. §§394.458, 916.1085) makes it a crime to bring a firearm INTO a mental-health hospital or transmit one to a patient of one outside the grounds — that's an anti-smuggling-to-patients rule, not a general no-carry rule for a licensee simply entering a hospital.

Florida's licensee prohibited-places list (Fla. Stat. §790.06(12)) does not include rest areas, and subsection (12)(b) expressly states a licensee 'is not prohibited from carrying or storing a firearm in a vehicle for lawful purposes.' Verified against the statute text directly.

No Florida statute found requiring a concealed weapon licensee to notify or disclose to law enforcement that they are carrying, in either the FDACS license FAQ or a comprehensive NRA-ILA review of Florida carry law.

Florida Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services (FDACS) issues the Concealed Weapon or Firearm License to any qualified U.S. citizen or permanent resident 21+ regardless of Florida residency.

Fla. Stat. §790.06(12) expressly states a concealed weapons license does NOT authorize carrying into any elementary or secondary school administration building or facility; §810.095 separately makes it a trespass offense to possess a firearm on school property. No exception for licensees. Florida became permitless-carry in 2023, which doesn't change this — the ban applies to everyone regardless of licensing.

Florida's trespass statutes (Fla. Stat. §§ 810.08 trespass in structure/conveyance and 810.09 trespass on property other than a structure) make willfully entering or remaining after notice against entry has been given (which can be given by posting, not only by personal communication) a trespass; being armed with a firearm during the commission of that trespass elevates the offense to a third-degree FELONY under §§ 810.08(2)(c)/810.09(2)(b). There is no statutory requirement that the person be personally asked to leave first once adequate notice (including a posted sign) has been given.

Fla. Stat. § 790.33 — the strongest preemption law in the country: the legislature "occupies the whole field" of firearm regulation to the exclusion of all local ordinances, and imposes personal civil fines up to $5,000 and removal from office on officials who knowingly/willfully violate it, plus citizen suits for damages up to $100,000 and attorney's fees.

Fla. Stat. § 790.06(12)(a)6 lists 'any polling place' among locations a concealed weapons/firearm license does NOT authorize carrying into.

No state-level magazine capacity restriction found.

Risk Protection Order Act, Fla. Stat. § 790.401 (2018, post-Parkland). Narrow petitioner class: only law enforcement officers/agencies may file; family and household members cannot petition directly.

No state-level restriction beyond the federal NFA process. Fla. Stat. § 790.221 bans SBR/SBS/machine gun possession EXCEPT that it explicitly excepts firearms 'lawfully owned and possessed under provisions of federal law' — a federally registered SBR, SBS, or even a pre-1986 transferable machine gun is lawful. Suppressors are not separately restricted; a silencer is defined as a 'firearm' under Fla. Stat. § 790.001(9) and follows ordinary firearm rules. Florida is one of the more NFA-permissive states, including for machine guns.

Stand Your Ground, Fla. Stat. §§ 776.012, 776.013 (2005, burden-of-proof expanded 2017 via SB 128) — no duty to retreat anywhere the person is lawfully present.

Florida has no state law extending background checks to private firearm sales; only dealer sales trigger the state's instant-check system. Confirmed via absence from Giffords' UBC list.