Florida Concealed Carry Permit: Training, Fees, and Reciprocity

A Florida Concealed Weapon or Firearm License costs $97, lasts seven years, and is honored in 37 other states.¹ Florida has allowed permitless concealed carry since July 2023, so the license is no longer required to carry inside the state. People still apply for it because it skips the three-day waiting period on dealer firearm purchases, travels across state lines, and gives law enforcement a quick way to confirm you are eligible to carry.²

Why Get the License If Florida Allows Permitless Carry

Under Section 790.01, anyone who meets the state’s eligibility criteria can carry concealed in Florida without a license. The eligibility rules are the same whether you hold a license or not. What changes is proof. If you carry without a license and turn out not to qualify, carrying a concealed firearm is a third-degree felony, and carrying any other concealed weapon is a first-degree misdemeanor.³ A license puts your background check on file with the state, which removes that question during a traffic stop or similar encounter.

The license also carries two concrete benefits permitless carry does not. First, license holders are exempt from Florida’s three-day waiting period when buying a firearm from a dealer.² Second, the license is recognized in 37 other states through reciprocity, while permitless authority ends at the Florida line.⁴

The license is also broader than its name suggests. It covers handguns, electronic weapons and devices, tear gas guns, knives, and billies. Machine guns are not included.⁵

Who Qualifies

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) screens every applicant against Section 790.06. You must be at least 21, though active-duty servicemembers and honorably discharged veterans can apply at 18.⁶ You must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident currently living in the United States. Non-immigrant visa holders cannot apply. Florida residency is not required, so out-of-state residents can obtain a Florida license.

Several factors disqualify an applicant:

Any felony conviction, unless civil and firearm rights have been restored by the convicting authority.⁵
A controlled substance conviction under Florida’s Chapter 893 or a similar law in another state within the past three years.
Two or more DUI convictions in the previous three years, which create a presumption of habitual substance abuse.⁶
Commitment to a mental institution or adjudication of mental incompetence.
An active injunction for protection against domestic violence or repeat violence. Federal law separately bars anyone subject to a qualifying protection order from possessing firearms.⁷
Pending criminal charges, which pause the application until the case is resolved.

Chronic or habitual use of alcohol or controlled substances is a separate disqualifier, independent of any conviction. FDACS looks at the whole record.

Firearms Training You’ll Need

You must document firearms competency before FDACS will process your application.⁸ The most common path is a safety course taught by a certified instructor that includes a live-fire component the instructor personally observes.⁵

Other acceptable training includes a state-approved hunter safety course, a law enforcement firearms course, or an NRA-certified course. Active-duty military can submit military orders or a statement of service. Honorably discharged veterans can submit a DD-214. Your training certificate goes into the application package.

How to Apply, Fees, and Timeline

FDACS accepts applications three ways: online through its website, in person at a regional FDACS office or participating tax collector’s office, or by mail to the Division of Licensing in Tallahassee.⁹ All applicants submit fingerprints and a photograph. Regional offices and tax collector offices handle photos and fingerprinting on-site; online and mail applicants get fingerprinted separately at a local sheriff’s office or law enforcement agency.

The fees:

$55 license fee for a new application
$42 fingerprint processing fee
$97 total paid to FDACS, the same for Florida residents and out-of-state applicants
Up to $22 additional convenience fee if you apply through a county tax collector
Up to $5 for fingerprinting at a sheriff’s office

Active Florida law enforcement officers do not pay the fingerprint fee, and active judges pay nothing.¹

FDACS runs your prints through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and FBI databases. By statute, the department must issue or deny the license within 90 days of receiving a complete application.⁹ If something is missing, FDACS notifies you and the 90-day clock pauses. Track progress through the FDACS online portal using your tracking number.

Where You Still Can’t Carry

The license does not override location bans. Section 790.06(12) prohibits concealed carry (and open carry of a handgun) in these places even if you hold a valid license:⁵

Police stations, sheriff’s offices, and highway patrol stations
Courthouses, courtrooms, jails, and prisons (a judge may authorize concealed carry in that judge’s own courtroom)
Meetings of county commissions, school boards, municipal bodies, special districts, and the Legislature
Polling places during voting
Elementary and secondary schools, career centers, and college or university facilities (registered students, employees, and faculty may carry stun guns or nonlethal electric defensive devices on campus)
School, college, or professional athletic events not related to firearms
The portion of any establishment licensed for on-premises alcohol service that is primarily devoted to serving alcohol
Inside airport passenger terminals past the security checkpoint (you can still bring a cased, unloaded firearm into the terminal for checking as baggage)
Any place legally declared a nuisance
Federal property where federal law prohibits firearms, including post offices, VA facilities, and federal courthouses

Private property owners can also ban firearms on their premises. Carrying past clear “no guns” signage can expose you to trespass liability even though Florida has no specific criminal statute for ignoring the sign.

Rules When You’re Carrying

Florida has no duty to proactively inform an officer that you are armed. If an officer asks, you must answer truthfully, and you must show valid identification on demand while carrying.⁵ Failing to produce ID is a noncriminal violation carrying a $25 fine.

Reciprocity for Travel

The Florida license is honored in 37 other states, including Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and most of the Mountain West and Midwest.⁴ States that do not honor it include New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia. Agreements shift, so check the current FDACS list before any trip. Each reciprocity state also enforces its own rules on prohibited locations and magazine limits. The license gets you across the line; it does not substitute for that state’s laws.

Renewal and Keeping the License Current

The license is good for seven years from the date of issuance.⁵ FDACS mails renewal notices about 90 days before expiration, and you can renew as early as 95 days out. Renewal costs $45 for Florida residents and $87 for out-of-state residents, who pay an additional fingerprint processing fee at renewal.¹

Miss the expiration date and you have a 180-day grace period to renew late with a $15 late fee.¹⁰ After 180 days the license cannot be renewed, and you start over as a new applicant at $97. While the license sits expired, you lose reciprocity and the waiting-period exemption even if permitless carry still covers you inside Florida.

Address changes must be reported to FDACS in writing within 30 days of moving. Not reporting is a noncriminal violation with a $25 penalty. A replacement license showing the new address costs $15.

1
Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Concealed Weapons License Fees
2
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.0655 – Purchase and Delivery of Firearms; Mandatory Waiting Period; Exceptions; Penalties
3
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.01 – Carrying Concealed Weapons
4
Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Concealed Weapon License Reciprocity
5
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Concealed Firearm
6
Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Eligibility Requirements for a Florida Concealed Weapon License
7
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Protection Orders and Federal Firearms Prohibitions
8
Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Acceptable Firearms Training Documentation
9
Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Applying for a Concealed Weapon License
10
Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Renew Your Concealed Weapon License