Constitutional Carry in Florida: Concealed-Only Rules and Restrictions

Constitutional carry in Florida took effect on July 1, 2023, and it lets eligible adults carry a concealed firearm without a state-issued license.¹ You still have to be 21, legally allowed to own a gun, and willing to follow every other rule Florida already had on the books. Open carry is still illegal. A long list of places are still off-limits. And you must carry photo ID whenever the firearm is on you.

Who Can Carry Without a Permit

Florida Statute 790.01 lets you carry concealed without a license only if you would qualify for a concealed weapon license under Section 790.06(2).² That means all of the following:

You are 21 or older.³
You are a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident alien.³
You have no felony conviction.⁴
You are not subject to a domestic violence restraining order and have no misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence.⁴
You have not been adjudicated mentally defective or committed to a mental institution.
You do not chronically abuse alcohol or controlled substances. Florida presumes you do if you have two or more DUI convictions in the preceding three years.³

Nobody checks before you walk out the door. The responsibility to know you qualify is entirely yours. Carrying when you don’t is a third-degree felony.²

Concealed Only — Open Carry Is Still Illegal

The 2023 law changed one thing: the license requirement for concealed carry. It did not legalize open carry. Section 790.053 still makes openly carrying a firearm a second-degree misdemeanor.⁵ The firearm has to be hidden from the ordinary sight of another person the entire time you are in public.

A brief, accidental exposure is not a violation, as long as the display is not done in an angry or threatening manner.⁵ A shirt that rides up when you reach for something is fine. Flashing the gun during an argument is not.

The one real exception covers specific outdoor activities. You can openly carry while fishing, camping, lawfully hunting, or traveling directly to and from those activities.⁶ Everywhere else, keep it covered.

Where You Cannot Carry

Section 790.06(12) lists the places where concealed carry is off-limits even if you qualify under the permitless carry law.³ Violating the restriction is a second-degree misdemeanor. The main categories:

Police stations, sheriff’s offices, and highway patrol stations.
Jails, prisons, and detention centers.
Courthouses and courtrooms. A judge may authorize a specific person to carry in the courtroom, but that doesn’t extend to the public.
Meetings of any county commission, school board, municipal body, special district, or the state Legislature and its committees.
Polling places on any day voting is taking place.
Elementary and secondary school buildings, administration buildings, and career centers.
College and university facilities. Registered students, employees, and faculty may carry stun guns designed solely for defense.
School, college, or professional athletic events, unless the event is related to firearms.
The portion of any establishment licensed to serve alcohol for on-premises consumption where serving alcohol is the primary purpose. You can carry in the dining area of a restaurant that also has a bar; you cannot carry in the bar section itself.
Airport passenger terminals and sterile areas. You may bring a legally owned, encased firearm through the terminal to check it as baggage.³
Places of nuisance under Florida law.
Any location where federal law prohibits firearms.

That last line matters more than it looks. Federal buildings, post offices, VA hospitals, military installations, and federal courthouses are all off-limits under 18 U.S.C. § 930, which carries up to a year in federal prison for a general federal facility and up to two years for a federal courthouse.⁷ Florida’s permitless carry law has no effect on any of them.

One useful carve-out: you can store a firearm in your vehicle even while parked at a prohibited location.³ The restriction is on carrying inside the location, not on the gun being in your parked car outside.

Private Property and “No Guns” Signs

A “no firearms” sign on a Florida business is not, by itself, a criminal matter. Walking past one is not a standalone offense. What turns it into a legal problem is refusing to leave.

If an owner, manager, or employee asks you to leave because you are armed and you don’t go, you are trespassing. Trespass while armed with a firearm is a third-degree felony.⁸ Comply with the request and leave. The sign isn’t the trap. The refusal is.

One place private property rules can’t override state law: an employer’s parking lot. Section 790.251 bars public and private employers alike from prohibiting customers, employees, or visitors from keeping a legally owned firearm locked inside a private vehicle in the parking lot.⁹ A workplace “no guns” policy stops at the building door.

Carrying in Your Vehicle

If you qualify for permitless carry, you can keep a concealed firearm on your person in a vehicle the same way you can anywhere else — in a holster, in a bag, tucked beside you — as long as it stays concealed.⁶ No special container is required.

If a Police Officer Stops You

Carrying under the permitless carry law requires you to have a valid photo ID with you at all times. A driver’s license or state ID card works. You must show it to a law enforcement officer on request. Failing to carry or produce it is a noncriminal violation with a $25 fine.¹⁰ The fine is small; the encounter is not.

Florida has no duty-to-inform law. You are not required to tell an officer you are armed. If the officer asks, answer truthfully — lying can produce a separate obstruction or false-information charge. During a traffic stop, an officer may temporarily secure the firearm for safety; it will normally be returned at the end of the stop. Keep your hands visible and your movements predictable.

When You Can Actually Use the Gun

Carrying and using are separate questions governed by separate statutes. Carrying the firearm legally doesn’t justify firing it. Section 776.012 sets the standard.

Non-deadly force is allowed when you reasonably believe it is necessary to defend yourself or someone else against the imminent use of unlawful force. You have no duty to retreat first.¹¹

Deadly force is narrower. You may use it only when you reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm, or the imminent commission of a forcible felony. As long as you are in a place you have a right to be and are not engaged in criminal activity, you have no duty to retreat before using it.¹¹

Inside a dwelling, Section 776.013 goes further: a person lawfully in a dwelling has no duty to retreat and is presumed to have a reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm when an intruder unlawfully enters by force.¹²

If the force was lawful, Section 776.032 gives you immunity from both criminal prosecution and civil suit. At a pretrial immunity hearing the prosecution has to overcome the claim by clear and convincing evidence.¹³ The protection is real, but it only applies when the force was actually justified. Feeling uncomfortable is not the standard.

Visitors From Out of State

Florida’s permitless carry law treats residents and non-residents the same. HB 543 authorizes any non-resident to carry concealed in Florida as long as they meet the same eligibility criteria: 21 or older, U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and not otherwise prohibited.¹ Every Florida-specific rule still applies — concealment, photo ID, and every prohibited-location restriction. If your home state allows open carry, that permission ends at the Florida border.

A visitor who doesn’t meet the Florida criteria — a 19-year-old from another state, for example — may still carry on a concealed carry permit from a state Florida recognizes. Florida currently has reciprocal agreements with 37 states.¹⁴ Confirm the current list before traveling.

Why Some People Still Get the License

Permitless carry doesn’t make the Florida concealed weapon license pointless. The main reason to still get one is travel. A Florida CWL is honored in 37 other states through reciprocity.¹⁴ Permitless carry stops at the state line; other states have no obligation to honor it. The license also serves as an exemption from the federal background check when buying from a licensed dealer, and it gives you an easy way to show an officer that you’ve already been vetted.

1
Florida Senate. Florida House Bill 543 (2023)
2
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.01 – Carrying of Concealed Weapons or Concealed Firearms
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Concealed Firearm
4
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Identify Prohibited Persons
5
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.053 – Open Carrying of Weapons
6
Florida Statutes. Florida Code 790.25 – Lawful Ownership, Possession, and Use of Firearms and Other Weapons
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 930 – Possession of Firearms and Dangerous Weapons in Federal Facilities
8
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 810.09 – Trespass on Property Other Than Structure or Conveyance
9
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.251 – Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles
10
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.013 – Carrying of Concealed Weapons or Concealed Firearms Without a License
11
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 776.012 – Use or Threatened Use of Force in Defense of Person
12
Florida Senate. Florida Code 776.013 – Home Protection; Use or Threatened Use of Deadly Force; Presumption of Fear of Death or Great Bodily Harm
13
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 776.032 – Immunity From Criminal Prosecution and Civil Action for Justifiable Use or Threatened Use of Force
14
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Concealed Weapon License Reciprocity