Under the operative law as of September 2025, a law-abiding adult who is not federally or state-disabled from possessing a firearm may openly carry a...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
POST-MCDANIELS UPDATE (Sept 2025): On September 10, 2025, the Florida First District Court of Appeal in McDaniels v. State, 419 So. 3d 1180 (Fla. 1st DCA 2025), No. 1D2023-0533 declared Fla. Stat. § 790.053 (Florida's open-carry prohibition) unconstitutional under the Second Amendment as interpreted in N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022). On September 15, 2025, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a guidance memorandum to Florida's law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities directing that they "refrain from arresting or prosecuting law-abiding citizens carrying a firearm in a manner that is visible to others," and stating that his office "will no longer defend convictions and prosecutions under Section 790.053(1) in cases like Mr. McDaniels'." Open carry by a law-abiding adult who is not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm is treated as lawful statewide, and no license is required for it. No authority states a minimum age; see "Minimum Age for Open Carry" below. It remains subject to the prohibited-places list in F.S. § 790.06(12), the improper-exhibition rule in F.S. § 790.10, § 790.115 school grounds, and federal restrictions (Gun-Free School Zones Act, federal facilities, USPS). Section 790.053 has not been repealed. It is still in the published Florida Statutes, the ruling came from one district court of appeal, and the Fourth District observed in Eubanks v. State, No. 4D2025-1698 (Fla. 4th DCA, June 17, 2026), that § 790.053 "is still a current statute that remains presently valid and potentially enforceable in this district." Legislative repeal or a Florida Supreme Court ruling would settle the question. The historical analysis of § 790.053 below is preserved for context.
Under the operative law as of September 2025, a law-abiding adult who is not federally or state-disabled from possessing a firearm may openly carry a handgun in Florida on practical terms parallel to permitless concealed carry under F.S. § 790.013. The § 790.06(12) prohibited-places list, F.S. § 790.10 improper exhibition, F.S. § 790.115 school grounds, and federal overlays (18 U.S.C. § 922(q) GFSZA exception only for CWFL holders, not bare qualifying adults; 18 U.S.C. § 930 federal facilities; 39 C.F.R. § 232.1(l) USPS) remain enforceable.
The authority for open carry is not the § 790.06 licensing statute. It is the McDaniels holding, which addressed the right of "ordinary, law-abiding, adult citizens" to carry openly, plus the Attorney General's statewide direction that law enforcement and prosecutors refrain from arresting or prosecuting law-abiding citizens carrying visibly. Neither is keyed to the § 790.06(2) issuance criteria, and no Florida appellate decision has attached an age term of its own to open carry. That matters for how you read the Eubanks decision on concealed-carry licensing, discussed below: the two doctrines run on separate tracks and should not be merged.
No Florida court, statute, attorney general opinion, or agency page states a minimum age for open carry. Teach it as an open question rather than a rule.
The 21 figure people repeat comes from § 790.06(2)(b), which sets eligibility for the CWFL and, through § 790.01(1)(b), for permitless concealed carry. It never governed open carry, and § 790.053, the statute McDaniels addressed, carried no age term of its own. Eubanks has now struck that paragraph as to 18- to 20-year-olds in any event, and it expressly declined to reach § 790.053.
The reasoned floor is 18, because Fla. Stat. § 790.22(3) provides that "[a] minor under 18 years of age may not possess a firearm, other than an unloaded firearm at his or her home," subject to narrow supervised-activity and lawful-hunting exceptions. A person who may not possess a firearm at all cannot carry one openly. That is an inference from the possession statute, not a holding, and it should be presented to students that way.
The Attorney General's guidance also drew three express limits. It does not stop law enforcement from policing those who "exhibit [firearms] in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner" under § 790.10, and nothing in McDaniels permits menacing others with a firearm or undermines the State's authority to prohibit felons from possessing firearms. The decision "neither considered nor implicated" the locations listed in § 790.06(12)(a) where carry, open or concealed, may be unauthorized. And private property owners keep the prerogative to require an armed person to leave, with a violation of that warning constituting armed trespass, a third-degree felony under § 810.08(2)(c).
Before September 10, 2025, Fla. Stat. § 790.053(1) prohibited openly carrying any firearm or electric weapon "on or about" your person, and a violation was a second-degree misdemeanor under § 790.053(3). Florida's 2023 permitless-carry law - HB 543, effective July 1, 2023 - applied only to concealed carry; it did NOT legalize open carry. Limited statutory exceptions then existed for the brief, open self-defense display permitted by § 790.053(1), for fishing, camping, and lawful hunting (and travel to or from those activities) under § 790.25(3)(h), and for possession at one's home or fixed place of business under § 790.25(3)(n). Those exceptions remain on the books but are now superseded for general-purpose open carry by the McDaniels ruling. § 790.053 itself remains in the published Florida Statutes, unrepealed, and the AG's September 15, 2025 guidance is what directs law enforcement and prosecutors statewide not to arrest or prosecute law-abiding visible carriers.
The relevant statutes are:
Fla. Stat. § 790.053 remains in the published Florida Statutes and is not being enforced after McDaniels and the Attorney General's guidance. Its text still reads, in § 790.053(1): "Except as otherwise provided by law and in subsection (2), it is unlawful for any person to openly carry on or about his or her person any firearm or electric weapon or device." Subsection (2) carved out only chemical sprays and nonlethal stun guns or dart-firing stun guns "designed solely for defensive purposes." Subsection (3) set the penalty at a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in jail under § 775.082(4)(b) and a fine of up to $500 under § 775.083(1)(e).
That prohibition was broad on its face. "Any firearm" reached handguns, rifles, and shotguns, and "on or about his or her person" reached carry within ready reach under long-standing Florida case law. But the First DCA held in McDaniels v. State, No. 1D2023-0533 (Fla. 1st DCA, Sept. 10, 2025), that this ban violates the Second Amendment under Bruen, and the Attorney General's September 15, 2025 guidance directs law enforcement not to enforce it. A person who openly carries a firearm today is not committing a § 790.053 offense. The historical detail below is preserved to explain how Florida arrived at the current rule.
The 2023 constitutional-carry bill - HB 543 - restructured § 790.01 and added § 790.013 to authorize permitless concealed carry by qualifying persons who can lawfully possess a firearm, with the § 790.06(2)(b) age floor then reading 21. It deliberately did not amend § 790.053. The bill was titled and drafted as a concealed-carry bill, and open-carry advocates pushed unsuccessfully during the 2023 legislative session to include open carry. So immediately after HB 543, the framework was permitless concealed carry only, with § 790.053 still on the books barring open carry. That changed in 2025: the First DCA held § 790.053 unconstitutional in McDaniels, and open carry is now lawful for anyone who may lawfully carry a firearm.
The current Florida framework looks like this:
Holding a Florida CWFL is not required for open carry. Open carry is lawful for any qualifying adult on the same eligibility terms as permitless concealed carry, whether or not the carrier holds a license.
Fla. Stat. § 790.053(1) closes with a critical clause: "It is not a violation of this section for a person who carries a concealed firearm as authorized in s. 790.01(1) to briefly and openly display the firearm to the ordinary sight of another person, unless the firearm is intentionally displayed in an angry or threatening manner, not in necessary self-defense."
This clause mattered most under the former open-carry ban, when it was the principal in-public exception to § 790.053. It permits a person who is otherwise lawfully carrying concealed (whether under a CWFL or under permitless concealed carry through § 790.013) to draw or expose the firearm in necessary self-defense without committing a § 790.053 violation. The carve-out has three operative conditions:
This carve-out addresses momentary exposure during a lawful concealed carry, plus a defensive-display protection. With § 790.053 unenforced after McDaniels and the Attorney General's guidance, deliberate open carry by a law-abiding adult stands on its own and no longer depends on this clause.
Fla. Stat. § 790.25(2) opens with the phrase "Notwithstanding ss. 790.01, 790.053, and 790.06," then lists categories of persons who may lawfully possess and use firearms. Under the former open-carry ban these categories functioned as narrow exceptions to § 790.053. They remain on the books and still matter for possession and carry in the listed activities (and for carriers who fall outside general carry eligibility), even though open carry by a qualifying adult is now broadly lawful after McDaniels. The most important for civilian carriers:
Two cautions on the § 790.25 carve-outs.
First, the carve-outs are narrow and activity-specific. "Going to or from" must be direct and reasonably contemporaneous; a hunter who detours to a shopping center on the way home is not "returning from a hunting expedition" within the protection of § 790.25(3)(h). Under the former ban, Florida prosecutors charged § 790.053 violations where the activity link was attenuated. These carve-outs still define the reach of § 790.25 for possession purposes, but they are no longer the only path to lawful open carry.
Second, the § 790.25(3) lawful-uses provisions do not displace § 790.115 (school premises), § 776.041 (aggressor exception), or any of the location-specific firearm prohibitions in chapter 790.
Florida's vehicle-carry rule is built on the "securely encased" definition in Fla. Stat. § 790.001(15): "in a glove compartment, whether or not locked; snapped in a holster; in a gun case, whether or not locked; in a zippered gun case; or in a closed box or container which requires a lid or cover to be opened for access." Note that "snapped in a holster" itself is a form of "securely encased" under Florida law.
Read together with § 790.25(4) (private conveyance), the result is:
This vehicle framework is a transport rule that governs how a firearm may be stowed and carried inside the vehicle; it is the practical path for carriers who are not eligible for general carry. Its § 790.25(4) age term of 18 mattered more before Eubanks, when 18- to 20-year-olds could not satisfy the § 790.06(2)(b) concealed-carry criteria at all. A securely encased firearm in the glove box is permissible for any qualifying carrier. A holstered handgun worn openly on the hip at a roadside fuel pump is lawful open carry for a qualifying adult after McDaniels.
Because McDaniels held § 790.053 unconstitutional, its former reach over "any firearm" - which had included long guns - no longer supports a charge. Openly carrying a rifle or shotgun in public is now lawful for a qualifying adult on the same terms as open carry of a handgun, subject to the prohibited-places rules, the § 790.10 improper-exhibition statute, and federal law. Under the former ban, an openly slung rifle on a public sidewalk in Tampa would have been a § 790.053 violation even though the same conduct was lawful in Texas, Arizona, or New Hampshire; that gap has now closed.
The § 790.25(3) lawful-use provisions - primarily hunting and going to or from a range, plus the home-and-business exception in § 790.25(3)(n) - remain on the books and continue to authorize possession and use in those activities, including for carriers who are not otherwise eligible for general carry.
The Florida Supreme Court upheld § 790.053 against a Second Amendment and Article I § 8 challenge in Norman v. State, 215 So. 3d 18 (Fla. 2017). The court applied intermediate scrutiny and concluded that the open-carry ban left ample channels for the right to bear arms, principally through Florida's then-extant licensed concealed-carry framework. The court emphasized that the ban targeted a manner of carry, not the right to carry itself.
Norman predates the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), which displaced means-end scrutiny in Second Amendment cases and substituted a "text, history, and tradition" analysis. Applying that framework, the First District Court of Appeal held in McDaniels v. State, 419 So. 3d 1180 (Fla. 1st DCA 2025), No. 1D2023-0533 (Sept. 10, 2025), that § 790.053 is unconstitutional. The court reasoned that "open carry was regarded as the lawful and preferred mode of bearing arms" in the founding era, that no historical tradition supports the ban, and that what the State "may not do is extinguish the right altogether for ordinary, law-abiding, adult citizens."
On September 15, 2025, the Attorney General issued a guidance memorandum to Florida's law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities. It states that the office believes "the McDaniels decision correctly applied Second Amendment law as enunciated in Bruen," directs that prosecutors and law enforcement "refrain from arresting or prosecuting law-abiding citizens carrying a firearm in a manner that is visible to others," and states that the office "will no longer defend convictions and prosecutions under Section 790.053(1) in cases like Mr. McDaniels'." A footnote adds that the office "will not file any post-decision motion authorized by rule" under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330, while noting that the judges of the First District could call for en banc rehearing.
Three facts belong together whenever this section is taught.
The practical answer for a Florida carrier is that open carry is being treated as lawful statewide under the Attorney General's guidance. The formal answer is that the ban survives on paper and its repeal is still pending legislative action. Both belong in the same breath.
Since McDaniels, Florida joins the majority of states that allow open carry. The contrast that used to matter (Florida barred open carry while neighbors allowed it) has largely closed:
A Texas LTC or a Pennsylvania LTCF is recognized in Florida for a resident of the issuing state under § 790.015, and the carrier follows Florida's rules while here. Because open carry is now lawful in Florida for anyone who may lawfully carry, a recognized visitor is no longer confined to concealed carry. A Florida CWFL holder traveling to Texas or Pennsylvania carries under those states' laws while there.
Federal law layers additional prohibited places that no state rule can cure: federal facilities under 18 U.S.C. § 930; postal property including parking lots under 39 C.F.R. § 232.1; military installations; secure areas of airports; and the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q), which makes possession of a firearm within 1,000 feet of K-12 school property a federal felony unless the carrier holds a state license meeting § 922(q)(2)(B)(ii). A Florida CWFL qualifies; permitless concealed carry under § 790.013 does not, and open carry without a qualifying license does not either.
Federal disabilities under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) cover convicted felons, persons subject to qualifying domestic-violence orders or convictions, unlawful drug users, persons adjudicated mentally defective, illegal aliens, fugitives, and other categories. A prohibited person under § 922(g) cannot lawfully possess a firearm, much less openly carry one.
Open carry is not being charged after McDaniels and the Attorney General's guidance. The exposures that remain come from prohibited-places rules, improper exhibition, armed trespass, prohibited-person status, and federal law.
| Conduct | Statute | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Open carry of a firearm by a law-abiding adult | Fla. Stat. § 790.053 (held unconstitutional in McDaniels; unrepealed, statewide non-enforcement per AG guidance) | Not charged |
| Remaining armed on private property after the owner's warning to depart | Fla. Stat. § 810.08(2)(c) | Felony of the third degree |
| Exhibiting a firearm in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner, not in necessary self-defense | Fla. Stat. § 790.10 | 1st-degree misdemeanor |
| Carry of a firearm in a § 790.115 school-zone setting | Fla. Stat. § 790.115 | Felony of the third degree (most subdivisions) |
| Possession by prohibited person under state law | Fla. Stat. § 790.23 | Felony of the second degree |
| Possession in federal facility | 18 U.S.C. § 930 | Federal misdemeanor or felony |
| Possession in Gun-Free School Zone without qualifying license | 18 U.S.C. § 922(q) | Federal felony |
| Possession by federal prohibited person | 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) | Federal felony |
The point for students is that open carry itself is lawful, but exhibiting a firearm in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner remains a crime under § 790.10, a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail under § 775.082 and a fine of up to $1,000 under § 775.083.
Is open carry legal in Florida? Yes, as of September 2025. HB 543 (2023) authorized only permitless concealed carry and did not amend § 790.053. But the First DCA held § 790.053 unconstitutional in McDaniels (Sept. 10, 2025), and the Attorney General's Sept. 15, 2025 guidance directs law enforcement not to enforce the ban. Open carry is treated as lawful statewide for a law-abiding adult who may lawfully possess a firearm, subject to prohibited places, § 790.10 improper exhibition, and federal law. Section 790.053 has not been repealed, so the practical rule rests on the ruling plus the Attorney General's non-enforcement direction rather than on a change to the statute books.
Did the 2026 Eubanks decision let 18- to 20-year-olds openly carry? Not directly, and some news coverage merged two separate rulings. Eubanks v. State, No. 4D2025-1698 (Fla. 4th DCA, June 17, 2026), is a concealed-carry case: it held Fla. Stat. § 790.06(2)(b), the 21-and-over requirement for a concealed weapon license, facially unconstitutional as to 18- to 20-year-olds, and FDACS now issues licenses to applicants 18 and older. The court said expressly that anything it wrote about § 790.053 would be dicta because the defendant there was not charged with open carry. Open carry in Florida rests on McDaniels and the Attorney General's guidance, neither of which turns on the § 790.06 licensing criteria.
Can a Florida CWFL holder openly carry a handgun? Yes. After McDaniels, open carry is lawful for any qualifying adult, whether or not they hold a CWFL. The CWFL remains a concealed-carry license, but open carry no longer requires one.
Can I openly carry a long gun in Florida? Yes. Long guns are firearms, and § 790.053 (which had reached them) is not being enforced after McDaniels. Open carry of a rifle or shotgun by a law-abiding adult is treated as lawful, subject to prohibited places, § 790.10 improper exhibition, and federal law.
What about open carry while hiking or camping? Open carry by a qualifying adult is now lawful generally, so a hiker no longer needs a § 790.25 activity to justify it. § 790.25(3)(h) still covers a person "engaged in fishing, camping, or lawful hunting or going to or returning from" such an expedition, which remains useful for carriers who are not otherwise eligible for general carry. Note that some parks and other locations have their own posting or prohibited-places rules.
Can I openly carry on my own property? Yes. § 790.25(3)(n) authorizes possession of firearms at the home or fixed place of business. Open carry on your own residential lot or inside your business is not a § 790.053 violation.
Can I draw my concealed handgun in self-defense? Yes, within limits. § 790.053(1) permits a person carrying lawfully concealed under § 790.01(1) to "briefly and openly display the firearm to the ordinary sight of another person" so long as it is not "in an angry or threatening manner, not in necessary self-defense." The display must be brief, occasioned by a genuine defensive need, and consistent with the use-of-force standards in chapter 776.
Does it matter whether an openly carried firearm is loaded? Not for open-carry legality. Open carry is lawful after McDaniels whether the firearm is loaded or unloaded. As always, the firearm may not be exhibited in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner under § 790.10, and the prohibited-places and federal rules still apply.
Can a city ban or expand open carry locally? No. Fla. Stat. § 790.33 broadly preempts local firearm regulation. Cities and counties may not add their own open-carry restrictions or re-impose the § 790.053 ban locally. The rule is statewide.
| Authority | Subject |
|---|---|
| Fla. Stat. § 790.001(3) | "Concealed firearm" definition |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.001(15) | "Securely encased" definition |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.01 | Carrying concealed weapons (post-HB 543) |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.013 | Permitless concealed carrying authorization |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.053 | Open carrying of weapons (former prohibition; held unconstitutional in McDaniels, 2025) |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.10 | Improper exhibition of a firearm (rude, careless, angry, or threatening) |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.06 | Concealed Weapon or Firearm License (CWFL) |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.115 | Possessing or discharging firearms on school property |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.23 | Felons and DV - possession unlawful |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.25 | Lawful ownership, possession, and use; lawful-uses carve-outs |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.25(3)(h) | Fishing, camping, lawful hunting carve-out |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.25(3)(n) | Home or fixed place of business carve-out |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.25(4) | Private conveyance |
| Fla. Stat. § 790.33 | State preemption of local firearm regulation |
| Fla. Stat. § 775.082 | Penalty for misdemeanor (jail term) |
| Fla. Stat. § 775.083 | Penalty for misdemeanor (fines) |
| HB 543 (2023) | Permitless concealed carry; effective July 1, 2023 |
| Norman v. State, 215 So. 3d 18 (Fla. 2017) | § 790.053 upheld against Second Amendment challenge (pre-Bruen; superseded by McDaniels) |
| McDaniels v. State, 419 So. 3d 1180 (Fla. 1st DCA 2025), No. 1D2023-0533 (Sept. 10, 2025) | § 790.053 open-carry ban held unconstitutional under Bruen |
| Eubanks v. State, No. 4D2025-1698 (Fla. 4th DCA, June 17, 2026) | § 790.06(2)(b) age requirement for concealed weapon licenses held facially unconstitutional as to 18- to 20-year-olds; expressly declined to reach § 790.053 |
| Fla. Stat. § 810.08(2)(c) | Armed trespass after a property owner's warning to depart (third-degree felony) |
| 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) | Federal prohibited persons |
| 18 U.S.C. § 922(q) | Gun-Free School Zones Act |
| 18 U.S.C. § 930 | Federal facility firearm prohibition |
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