Florida AG Says Open Carry Now Legal Statewide

After a Florida appellate court ruled last week that the state’s ban on open carry violates the Second Amendment, I wrote that the state’s attorney general had a tough choice to make; continue to defend a law he disagrees with the intent of getting a similar ruling from the state’s Supreme Court or let the appeals court decision rest, even if the decision wouldn’t apply outside the First District Court of Appeals. 

Attorney General James Uthmeier has decided on the latter option, but in a twist, he says that the appellate court’s decision does impact the law across the state, and as a result open carry is now the law of the land. 

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… pic.twitter.com/2W5Hr6EV2V

— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) September 15, 2025

Uthmeier has sent guidance to all Florida law enforcement agencies, including prosecutors, alerting them to the court’s decision in McDaniels and offering his reasoning as to why he believes the decision applies statewide. 

Because no other appellate court has considered the constitutionality of Section 790.053 under Bruen and Rahimi, the First District’s decision is binding on all other Florida trial courts. See Pardo v. State. Effectively, the McDaniels decision is now the law of the State. Because no Florida court will any longer be empowered to convict a defendant for violating 790.053, 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. Similarly, consistent with this decision, my office moving forward will no longer defend convictions and prosecutions under 790.053(1) in cases like Mr. McDaniels’.

Uthmeier did note, however, that police and prosecutors can still go after anyone who “exhibit [firearms] in a rude, careless, threatening, or angry manner”, as well as arresting and prosecuting individuals who carry a gun on private property that’s been posted as a “gun-free zone”.  

The Florida Sheriff’s Association had already issued guidance to each of the 67 county sheriffs urging them not to enforce the open carry ban going forward, but some police chiefs had indicated they still planned on arresting those who were found openly carrying a firearm ahead of the September 25 effective date of the ruling. 

I’m glad to see Uthmeier’s approach to the ruling, but I hope it doesn’t cause the legislative effort to repeal the open carry ban to fizzle out. Even if Uthmeier is correct, that doesn’t mean that future AGs will agree, or that overzealous prosecutors and police won’t ignore Uthmeier’s guidance and continue to enforce the ban, at least in those jurisdictions beyond the First District’s coverage. In fact, if the open carry ban is now invalid throughout the state, that’s all the more reason to formally repeal the law and wipe it from statute. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been very vocal about legislative repeal of the ban, and I hope that Senate leadership will now finally take action to remove this unconstitutional law and end the threat of prosecution once and for all. 

Editor’s Note: Attorney General Uthmeier and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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