Can I Take My Gun on Vacation to Florida? Car, Carry, Flights

Yes, you can bring a gun on vacation to Florida. Any adult 18 or older who can legally possess a firearm may keep one in a private vehicle, and adults 21 and older can carry it concealed on their person without a Florida permit under the state’s permitless carry law.¹ The rules shift depending on whether the firearm stays in your car, rides on your hip, or flies with you in a checked bag, and a few quirks catch visitors off guard. Florida also preempts all local firearms regulation, so the rules below are the same whether you’re in Miami, Pensacola, or a small town in between.²

Keeping a Firearm in Your Vehicle

Anyone 18 or older who can legally possess a firearm may keep one in a private vehicle in Florida without any permit. The single requirement: the gun must be “securely encased” or otherwise not within easy reach for immediate use.³

Securely encased is defined more broadly than many people assume. Any of the following qualifies:⁴

A glove compartment or center console, locked or unlocked
A snapped holster
A gun case, locked or unlocked
A zippered gun case
Any closed box or container that requires lifting a lid or cover

A pistol tossed loose on the passenger seat or stuffed in a door pocket does not count. As long as some kind of container or compartment sits between you and the gun, you’re within the law. These rules apply the same way to residents and out-of-state visitors.

Long guns get easier treatment. Rifles and shotguns being transported in a private vehicle for a lawful purpose may be carried anywhere inside the vehicle without needing to be encased.³ Secure storage during a road trip is still good practice.

Driving Through Other States on the Way

Road trips from the north and west usually cross states with tougher gun laws than Florida’s. The federal Firearm Owners Protection Act gives you a safe-passage right: you may transport a firearm through any state so long as you can legally possess the gun at both your starting point and your destination.⁵

The federal requirements are stricter than Florida’s. The firearm must be unloaded, and neither the gun nor the ammunition can be accessible from the passenger compartment. In a sedan, that usually means the trunk. In a pickup or SUV with no separate trunk, the firearm and ammunition must go in a locked container, and not in the glove compartment or center console.⁵

Safe passage only covers you while you’re actually traveling. An overnight hotel stay or a long detour in a restrictive state can take you outside its protection. Route planning matters, especially through the Northeast.

Carrying Concealed Once You Arrive

Florida’s permitless carry law lets you carry a concealed firearm without a Florida license, and it extends to non-residents. To qualify, you have to meet the same standards the state would apply if you were getting a formal concealed weapon license:⁶

Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien and at least 21 years old
No felony conviction, and no controlled substance conviction within the last three years
Not subject to an active injunction and not involuntarily committed to a mental institution
Not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm under Florida or federal law

Anyone carrying concealed must have valid ID on them and show it to a law enforcement officer on request. That applies whether you carry under the permitless law or with a license. Carrying concealed without meeting the eligibility requirements is a third-degree felony.⁶

Your Home-State Permit Is Still Worth Carrying

Florida recognizes concealed carry licenses from many other states through reciprocity.⁷ You don’t need it to carry here, but keeping it with you helps in practical ways. It shows you’ve already cleared a background check, which can ease encounters with police. It also waives the three-day waiting period if you decide to buy a handgun from a Florida retailer during your trip.⁸

Visitors Aged 18 to 20

If you’re between 18 and 20, you can keep a firearm in your vehicle under the securely-encased rules, but you can’t carry concealed outside the vehicle because the permitless carry law requires age 21. Outside the car, your options narrow to activities Florida treats as lawful uses, such as fishing, camping, hunting, or going to and from a shooting range.³

Open Carry Is Not Allowed

This is the rule that most surprises visitors from open-carry states. Florida bans openly carrying a firearm in almost every circumstance. Qualifying for concealed carry doesn’t change that; if the firearm is visible, you’re breaking the law.⁹

There is one narrow exception. If you’re authorized to carry concealed, brief and unintentional exposure (a shirt riding up over a holster) is not a violation, as long as you’re not displaying the gun in a threatening way. Deliberately wearing a holstered pistol on your hip through a beach town, however, is a second-degree misdemeanor carrying up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.⁹¹⁰

Places You Can’t Bring a Firearm

A long list of locations is off-limits even under permitless carry, and the restrictions apply equally to Florida license holders, out-of-state permit holders, and permitless carriers. Knowingly carrying a concealed firearm into any of these places is a second-degree misdemeanor, up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.¹¹¹⁰

Police stations, sheriff’s offices, and highway patrol stations
Jails, prisons, and detention facilities
Courthouses and courtrooms
Polling places
Meetings of any governing body — county commission, city council, school board, state legislature
School, college, or professional athletic events not related to firearms
All elementary and secondary schools, career centers, and administration buildings
College and university facilities (with a narrow exception for students or employees carrying stun guns)
The bar area of any establishment serving alcohol for on-premises consumption
Airport passenger terminals and sterile areas past security checkpoints
Any location where federal law prohibits firearms

The alcohol rule trips people up. The statute targets the portion of an establishment “primarily devoted” to serving drinks, not the whole building. At a restaurant with a separate bar section, you’re prohibited from carrying in the bar area but not necessarily the dining room. In practice, that line can be hard to see, and getting it wrong is a criminal charge. The safe move is to leave the firearm secured in your vehicle before entering any place that serves alcohol.¹¹

Storing the Gun When Children Are Around

If you’re vacationing with kids under 16, Florida’s safe storage law applies to your hotel room, rental house, or campsite. When you store or leave a loaded firearm anywhere under your control, and you know or should know a minor could access it, the gun has to be kept in a locked container, in a location a reasonable person would consider secure, or secured with a trigger lock. The only exception is when the firearm is on your body or close enough to grab as quickly as if it were.¹²

A violation becomes a second-degree misdemeanor if a child actually gets to the firearm and possesses or displays it in public or in a threatening manner. A portable lock box or trigger lock in your luggage avoids both the legal risk and the far worse risk of an accident.

Flying Into Florida With a Firearm

Flying is governed by TSA rules, which are federal and the same at every airport. The firearm must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided container, and declared to the airline at the ticket counter when you check your bag. The container has to fully prevent access to the gun; if it can be pried open easily, TSA will reject it.¹³

Ammunition has to be packed separately in fiber, wood, or metal boxes, or in packaging specifically designed for ammunition. Loose rounds in a bag won’t pass.¹⁴ Only you should keep the key or combination to the firearm container. TSA may need to inspect the case, but airport personnel shouldn’t have independent access.

Airlines layer their own rules on top of the TSA baseline, including weight limits on ammunition and additional fees for declaring a firearm. Policies vary by carrier and change without much warning. Call your airline before you head to the airport; TSA itself tells travelers to do the same for any limits or fees beyond federal rules.¹³

1
Executive Office of the Governor. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs HB 543 – Constitutional Carry
2
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.33 – Field of Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition Preempted to State Legislature
3
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.25 – Lawful Ownership, Possession, and Use of Firearms and Other Weapons
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Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.001 – Definitions
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 926A – Interstate Transportation of Firearms
6
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.01 – Carrying of Concealed Weapons or Concealed Firearms
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Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Concealed Weapon License Reciprocity
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Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.0655 – Purchase and Delivery of Handguns; Mandatory Waiting Period
9
Justia Law. Florida Code 790.053 – Open Carrying of Weapons
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Online Sunshine. Florida Code 775.082 and 775.083 – Penalties and Fines
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Justia Law. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Concealed Firearm
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Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.174 – Safe Storage of Firearms Required
13
Transportation Security Administration. Transporting Firearms and Ammunition
14
Transportation Security Administration. Firearms