Can I Carry a Gun in Florida? Permitless Carry and Car Rules

Yes, you can carry a gun in Florida, and in most cases you can carry it concealed without any permit. A law that took effect July 1, 2023 lets adults who meet the state’s eligibility rules carry a concealed firearm without applying for a license.¹ You still have to be at least 21, free of disqualifying criminal and mental health history, and willing to keep the firearm completely hidden. Open carry remains illegal in almost every public setting, and a long list of specific places are off-limits regardless of how you qualify.

Who Qualifies to Carry Concealed Without a Permit

Florida Statute 790.01 authorizes concealed carry for anyone who “satisfies the criteria for receiving and maintaining” a Concealed Weapon License under 790.06.² You don’t have to apply or carry proof, but you do have to actually meet those criteria. Carrying when you don’t meet them is a felony.

You qualify if all of the following are true:

You are 21 or older. The age drops to 18 if you are an active-duty servicemember or honorably discharged veteran.
You are a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident living in the United States.
You have no felony convictions. A felony conviction prohibits firearm possession entirely under both state and federal law.
If a court withheld adjudication on a felony, a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, or any misdemeanor crime of violence, three years have passed since you completed probation or other court-imposed conditions.
You have no controlled substance conviction in the past three years.
You are not a chronic user of alcohol or other substances. Two DUI convictions within three years creates a legal presumption of habitual use.
You have not been adjudicated mentally defective or involuntarily committed to a mental institution.
You do not have a physical infirmity that prevents safe handling of a firearm.

These standards come directly from 790.06(2) and (3) and apply to permitless carriers through 790.01.³ If you are prosecuted for carrying without a license, the state has to prove both that you lacked one and that you were ineligible to get one.²

Federal law adds a few more disqualifiers that Florida does not separately list: fugitives from justice, people dishonorably discharged from the military, those who have renounced U.S. citizenship, anyone under indictment for a crime punishable by more than a year, most non-immigrant visa holders, and people subject to qualifying protective orders involving an intimate partner or child. These apply nationwide under 18 U.S.C. 922.

Open Carry Is Still Illegal

Permitless carry changed concealed carry. It did not legalize open carry. Florida Statute 790.053 makes it unlawful to openly carry a firearm or electric weapon where others can see it, and this applies even if you hold a Concealed Weapon License. Any firearm you carry in public has to be completely hidden. A visible holster on your hip is a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in jail.⁴⁵

The exceptions are narrow. Under Florida Statute 790.25, you can openly carry while fishing, camping, hunting, or traveling directly to or from those activities. You can also carry openly inside your own home or at your place of business.⁶ Outside those situations, keep the gun concealed.

Carrying a Firearm in Your Car

You don’t need to meet the permitless carry eligibility rules to keep a firearm in your vehicle. Under Florida Statute 790.25(4), anyone 18 or older who legally possesses a firearm can keep it inside a private vehicle as long as it is “securely encased” or not readily accessible for immediate use.⁶ “Securely encased” covers a glove compartment, a gun safe, a snapped holster, a zippered case, or any closed container with a lid. A gun loose on the passenger seat or tucked in a door pocket does not count.

If you meet the permitless carry criteria or hold a CWL, you can carry it concealed on your person inside the vehicle. If you are 18 to 20 and don’t have a license, the securely-encased route is your only option. Long guns being transported for a lawful purpose can go anywhere inside a private vehicle.

Where You Cannot Carry

Florida Statute 790.06(12) lists 15 categories of places where concealed carry is prohibited regardless of how you qualify. Walking into any of them armed is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail.³ The prohibited locations include:

Elementary and secondary schools, their administration buildings, and career centers
College and university campuses (registered students, employees, and faculty may carry a nonlethal defensive stun gun)
Courthouses and courtrooms
Meetings of county commissions, school boards, city councils, special districts, and legislative committee sessions
Polling places on election days
Police stations, sheriff’s offices, and highway patrol stations
Prisons, jails, and other detention facilities
The portion of any establishment licensed to serve alcohol that is primarily devoted to that purpose (the bar area, not necessarily the whole restaurant)
School, college, or professional athletic events not related to firearms
Airport passenger terminals and sterile areas, though you can bring a lawfully encased firearm into the terminal to check it as baggage
Places declared a nuisance under Florida Statute 823.05
Anywhere federal law prohibits firearms

That last category sweeps in post offices and their parking lots,⁷ federal courthouses, VA hospitals, military bases, and any federal building with security screening under 18 U.S.C. 930. National parks generally allow concealed carry under state law, but any federal facility inside the park — visitor center, ranger station, gift shop — is a prohibited zone.

Private property owners and businesses can also prohibit firearms on their premises. Florida law doesn’t require any specific signage. If the owner has posted a no-weapons policy or asks you to leave and you stay while armed, you can be charged with trespass, and the armed trespass carries jail time and loss of carry rights.

Places of worship sit in a gray area. Florida Statute 790.06(13) specifically authorizes a person “licensed under this section” to carry on property owned or used by a religious institution.⁸ That language refers to CWL holders. Whether permitless carriers get the same authorization is unsettled because permitless carry comes from 790.01, not 790.06. The religious institution can still prohibit firearms either way.

One more boundary on local rules: under Florida Statute 790.33, no county, city, or municipality can pass its own ordinance restricting the purchase, possession, transport, or carrying of firearms, and any local rule that tries is void.⁹ A city cannot ban guns in a public park or require local registration. State law controls everywhere.

Visitors and Non-Residents

You don’t have to live in Florida to carry here. A non-resident who is a U.S. resident, is 21 or older, and meets the same eligibility criteria can carry concealed while visiting. If you hold a valid concealed carry license from your home state, you can carry under that license even if you wouldn’t otherwise meet every Florida-specific criterion.¹⁰ Active servicemembers and honorably discharged veterans can carry at 18 whether or not they live in Florida. Prohibited-location rules and the open carry ban apply to everyone.

What to Do During a Police Encounter

Florida does not require you to proactively tell an officer you are armed. You don’t have to volunteer that during a traffic stop. You do have to carry valid ID at all times while armed and show it if an officer asks. Failing to produce ID when asked is a noncriminal violation with a $25 fine.¹¹

If an officer asks whether you are armed, answer truthfully. Keep your hands visible, do not reach toward the weapon, and follow instructions. A small ID fine is nothing compared to what happens if an officer finds a concealed weapon during a stop where you weren’t cooperative.

When You Can Actually Use the Firearm

Carrying legally does not authorize you to use the gun. Florida self-defense law sets specific thresholds. Under Florida Statute 776.012, you can use non-deadly force when you reasonably believe it’s necessary to defend yourself or someone else against another person’s imminent use of unlawful force, and you have no duty to retreat first.¹²

Deadly force, which includes drawing and firing a weapon, is justified only when you reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm, or the commission of a forcible felony. Florida’s Stand Your Ground provision removes the duty to retreat before using deadly force, as long as you are not engaged in criminal activity and are in a place you have a right to be. The key is “reasonably believes.” A subjective feeling of danger is not enough. The threat has to be one a reasonable person in the same situation would see as imminent and serious. Pulling a firearm during an argument that hasn’t turned physical is not protected.

Should You Still Get the License

Since carrying concealed is legal without one, the Concealed Weapon License can seem redundant. It isn’t. The Florida CWL provides reciprocity with 37 other states, so you can carry legally while traveling across much of the country.¹⁰ Without the license, your Florida permitless carry rights end at the state line. States like New York, California, and Illinois do not recognize the Florida license and have strict possession rules of their own.

The license also removes the ambiguity about carrying in a place of worship, and it exempts you from the three-day waiting period when buying a firearm from a licensed dealer. Applications go through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, require proof of firearms training along with fingerprints and ID, and cost $97 at an FDACS office or up to $119 through a county tax collector.¹³¹⁴ FDACS has 90 days to decide once a complete application is in.

1
Executive Office of the Governor. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs HB 543 – Constitutional Carry
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.01 – Carrying of Concealed Weapons or Concealed Firearms
3
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Concealed Firearm
4
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.053 – Open Carrying of Weapons
5
Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.082 – Penalties, Applicability of Sentencing Structures, Notification to Department of Revenue
6
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.25 – Lawful Ownership, Possession, and Use of Firearms and Other Weapons
7
USPS. Possession of Firearms and Other Dangerous Weapons on Postal Service Property Is Prohibited by Law
8
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Concealed Firearm
9
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.33 – Field of Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition Preempted
10
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Concealed Weapon License Reciprocity
11
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.013 – Requirement for Persons Carrying Concealed Weapons or Concealed Firearms Without Licenses
12
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 776.012 – Use or Threatened Use of Force in Defense of Person
13
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Applying for a Concealed Weapon License
14
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Concealed Weapons License Fees