Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier confirmed that the open carry of firearms is the “law of the state.”
In a memo sent to law enforcement, Uthmeier affirmed a court decision that found that “law-abiding, adult citizens” have the right to openly carry firearms in public.
“Because no Florida court will any longer be empowered to convict a defendant for violating Section 790.053(1), prudence counsels that prosecutors and law enforcement personnel should likewise refrain from arresting or prosecuting law-abiding citizens carrying a firearm in a manner that is visible to others,” Uthmeier’s guidance states.
“Nothing in the decision permits individuals to menace others with firearms in public, nor does it undermine the state’s authority to prohibit felons from possessing firearms,” the guidance adds.
In a statement on X accompanying the memo, the state’s attorney general wrote, “I’m issuing guidance to Florida’s prosecutors and law enforcement in light of the 1st DCA’s decision in McDaniels v. State.”
“Because no other appellate court has considered the constitutionality of Florida’s open carry ban since the SCOTUS decision in Bruen, the 1st DCA’s decision is binding on all Florida’s trial courts,” he wrote. “Meaning that as of last week, open carry is the law of the state.”
A three-judge panel ruled last week: “No historical tradition supports Florida’s open carry ban. To the contrary, history confirms that the right to bear arms in public necessarily includes the right to do so openly. That is not to say that open carry is absolute or immune from reasonable regulation. But what the state may not do is extinguish the right altogether for ordinary, law-abiding, adult citizens.”
Earlier this year, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) pressured state legislators to eliminate the ban on the open carry of handguns. “Are we Florida or are we San Francisco?” he asked.
