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 Narrow exceptions (hunting/fishing/camping, brief display) remain in the statute's text but are now largely superseded by the ruling for ordinary open carry.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.

Fla. Stat. §790.001(9) defines a silencer as an ordinary 'firearm' and no Florida statute separately restricts it, so it's lawful with just standard federal NFA registration.

Fla. Stat. §790.221 bans machine gun possession except one 'lawfully owned and possessed under provisions of federal law' -- a full carve-out that covers a pre-1986 transferable machine gun with a completed federal transfer.

Same Fla. Stat. §790.221 federal-law carve-out applies to short-barreled rifles.

Same Fla. Stat. §790.221 federal-law carve-out applies to short-barreled shotguns.

A December 7, 2011 Florida Attorney General opinion concluded Florida law 'allows the lawful possession of destructive devices as defined in section 790.001(4)' -- §790.161 criminalizes unlawful manufacture/possession, not lawful (federally-registered) possession -- and AOWs under 26 U.S.C. §5845(e) aren't named in §790.221(1) at all, so they're likewise unrestricted by Florida law.