Attorney General James Uthmeier – 12:35 PM · Sep 10, 2025 . . .
Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals just ruled that Florida’s open carry ban is no longer constitutionally enforceable statewide. Our office fully supports the Court’s decision.
This is a big win for the Second Amendment rights of Floridians.
As we’ve all witnessed over the last few days, our God-given right to self-defense is indispensable.
Post-ruling, many law enforcement agencies have stopped enforcing Florida open-carry ban
Following Wedneday’s decision by the Florida First District Court of Appeal striking the state’s ban on openly carrying firearms, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey says his deputies will no longer enforce the ban – even though the law hasn’t changed yet.
In a video message posted on X Wednesday night, Sheriff Ivey, a longtime advocate for the Legislature to pass an open-carry law, said that he had informed his deputies of the policy shift. The statute at issue (790.053) makes it “unlawful for any person to openly carry on or about his or her person any firearm or electric weapon or device.”
“While the opinion at this point is not yet final as the court allows for time for the filing of a motion for rehearing or reconsideration, there’s no reason to expect that the court will reverse its decision,” Ivey said.
He’s not the only sheriff making that move.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, and the Pensacola Police Department will no longer enforce the state’s open carry law either, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced on Wednesday that it has informed officers that they cannot detain or arrest solely based on openly carrying a firearm.
The ruling isn’t final until the 15-day window for a rehearing has run out, but the state likely won’t appeal the decision. Ron DeSantis advocated as recently as Monday for the Legislature to change the ban on open carry, and Attorney General James Uthmeier’s said on Wednesday that the court’s ruling was “a big win for the Second Amendment rights of Floridians.”
The ruling is only applicable to the First District, which encompasses most of the counties in North Florida. Brevard County is not within that jurisdiction.
Ivey said he had consulted with Wayne Scheiner, the state attorney in Florida’s 18th Judicial Circuit, as well as the attorney representing the Florida Sheriffs Association. He said he had informed all of the police departments in the county that they no longer needed to enforce the ban.
A spokesperson for the police department in Palm Bay, the largest city in Brevard County, confirmed that it is following suit. “At the direction of the State Attorneys’s Office and Florida Police Chiefs Association, we will not be enforcing that statute as it pertains to open carry,” said Lt. Virginia Kilmer.
Not all law enforcement agencies are dropping enforcement — at least not yet.
For the full article, go to: https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/09/11/post-ruling-many-law-enforcement-agencies-have-stopped-enforcing-florida-open-carry-ban
Florida’s open carry ban for guns ruled unconstitutional.
Two days after Gov. Ron DeSantis once again called on legislators to allow people to openly carry guns in Florida, a state appeals court ruled that the state’s ban on open carry is unconstitutional.
In a major decision, a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal said the open-carry ban is incompatible with the nation’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.” It cited U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Second Amendment issues.
“History confirms that the right to bear arms in public necessarily includes the right to do so openly,” Judge Stephanie Ray wrote in a 20-page opinion joined by Judges Lori Rowe and M. Kemmerly Thomas. “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.”
Read the complete article here . . . https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2025/09/10/florida-open-carry-ban-guns-ruled-unconstitutional-appeals-court/86076269007/
