You cannot conceal carry in a bar in Florida. Under Florida Statute 790.06(12)(a), it is illegal to carry a concealed firearm into any portion of an establishment licensed to serve alcohol for on-premises consumption where that portion is primarily devoted to serving drinks.1Justia Law. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Firearm A knowing and willful violation is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. The dining room of a restaurant that happens to serve alcohol is treated differently from the bar itself, and that distinction is where most of the practical questions arise.
What Counts as the Bar Portion
The statute does not prohibit carry in every business that pours a drink. It prohibits carry in the portion “primarily devoted” to serving alcohol for on-premises consumption.1Justia Law. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Firearm A sit-down restaurant with a liquor license and a separate bar area is effectively two zones. You can carry while eating at a table in the dining room. You cannot carry into the section built around the bar counter, where the primary activity is drinking rather than eating. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which administers concealed weapon licenses, uses the same language in its possession-restriction guidance.2Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services – Possession Restrictions
The clean cases are easy. The hard cases are everywhere else. A brewpub with high-tops near the taps, a sports bar where food is served at the counter, a steakhouse where the restrooms sit on the far side of the bar — these create real ambiguity about where the dining area ends and the bar zone begins. Florida law sets no square-footage test and does not require establishments to mark the boundary with signage. You are making a judgment call every time you walk in, and if a prosecutor later argues the area you were standing in was primarily devoted to serving alcohol, you are the one defending that call.
The practical rule: if a section of the establishment looks and feels like a bar, treat it as off-limits. That includes passing through on the way to the restroom. The statute carves out no exception for walking through.
Drinking While Carrying
Even in a dining room where carry is legal, mixing alcohol with a firearm has its own statute. Florida Statute 790.151 makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to “use a firearm” while your normal faculties are impaired by alcohol.3Justia Law. Florida Code 790.151 – Using Firearm While Under the Influence of Alcoholic Beverages, Chemical Substances, or Controlled Substances; Penalties
“Use” is defined narrowly. It means discharging the weapon or having it loaded and in your hand. A holstered firearm that stays holstered does not meet the definition.3Justia Law. Florida Code 790.151 – Using Firearm While Under the Influence of Alcoholic Beverages, Chemical Substances, or Controlled Substances; Penalties So having a beer with dinner while your weapon stays in its holster does not, by itself, violate 790.151.
Legal and advisable are not the same thing. If something causes you to draw the weapon, you have moved into territory where your blood alcohol level becomes a prosecutor’s question. The statute preserves lawful self-defense, but that protection gets harder to rely on when an officer is asking whether alcohol affected your judgment. The common advice from firearms instructors and defense attorneys is simple: if you are carrying, do not drink.
Permitless Carry Did Not Change the Rule
Florida’s 2023 permitless carry law, which took effect July 1, 2023, lets anyone 21 or older who is legally eligible to possess a firearm carry concealed without a Concealed Weapon or Firearm License.4Executive Office of the Governor. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs HB 543 – Constitutional Carry It did not change where you can carry. Every prohibited location under 790.06(12)(a), including the bar-area restriction, applies the same way whether you hold a CWFL or carry without one.1Justia Law. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Firearm
Penalties
Carrying a concealed firearm into a prohibited location under 790.06(12)(a) is a second-degree misdemeanor when done knowingly and willfully.1Justia Law. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Firearm The maximum penalties are up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.5Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.082 – Penalties; Applicability of Sentencing Structures; Sentences
Those are modest numbers compared with other firearm offenses, but a conviction still produces a criminal record that can affect employment, professional licensing, and future ability to carry. The “knowingly and willfully” language means you have to know you are carrying into the prohibited area. Ignorance of the law itself is not a defense. A court is unlikely to accept the argument that you did not know bars were off-limits.