Florida gun laws let eligible adults 21 and older carry a concealed firearm without a permit, require a three-day waiting period and background check on every dealer sale, prohibit open carry outside a few specific activities, and ban firearms outright in a defined list of places like schools, courthouses, and bars. Because the Legislature preempts the field, these rules apply the same way in every city and county.
Who Can Legally Own a Gun in Florida
You must be at least 21 to buy any firearm from a licensed dealer. The only exception lets active law enforcement officers, correctional officers, and military service members who are at least 18 purchase a rifle or shotgun.1Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Requirements to Purchase a Firearm
Meeting Florida’s age rule is not enough on its own. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. ยง 922(g) bars firearm possession for several categories of people, and those bars apply in Florida no matter what state law says:2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
- Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, whether or not you actually served time.
- Fugitives from justice.
- Current users of any controlled substance, including marijuana. This applies even if you hold a valid Florida medical marijuana card, because marijuana remains a federal Schedule I substance.
- Anyone adjudicated as mentally defective or committed to a mental institution.
- Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence involving physical force or a deadly weapon against a spouse, former spouse, co-parent, or cohabitant. This bar is permanent.3United States Department of Justice. Restrictions on the Possession of Firearms by Individuals Convicted of a Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence
- Anyone subject to a qualifying domestic violence protective order with a finding of credible threat.
- Anyone dishonorably discharged from the Armed Forces.
- Anyone who has renounced U.S. citizenship.
- Anyone in the country illegally or admitted on a nonimmigrant visa, with limited exceptions.
The marijuana disqualifier catches more Florida gun buyers off guard than almost anything else on the list. ATF Form 4473, which every buyer fills out at a licensed dealer, asks whether you are an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance. Answering “no” while using marijuana is a federal crime regardless of your state medical card.
Buying a Firearm
Every sale through a licensed dealer runs through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, not the FBI. The dealer submits your information to FDLE and waits for an approval number before completing the transfer.4The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.065 – Sale and Delivery of Firearms
A mandatory waiting period of three business days (excluding weekends and legal holidays) separates the purchase from the delivery. If the background check takes longer than three days, the dealer holds the firearm until it clears. Two groups skip the wait: holders of a valid Florida Concealed Weapon or Firearm License, and buyers trading in another firearm at the same time.5The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.0655 – Purchase and Delivery of Firearms; Mandatory Waiting Period; Exceptions; Penalties
Private Sales
Neither federal law nor Florida law requires a background check when a firearm changes hands between two private individuals who are not licensed dealers. The three-day waiting period also applies only to dealer sales. Selling a firearm to someone you know or have reason to believe is legally prohibited from owning one is a separate crime. If the buyer lives in a different state, the transfer must go through a licensed dealer in the buyer’s home state, which triggers the usual background check.
Straw Purchases
Buying a firearm for someone who cannot legally possess one is a federal felony carrying up to 15 years in prison. If the firearm is intended for use in a drug trafficking crime or act of terrorism, the maximum sentence rises to 25 years.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 932 – Straw Purchasing of Firearms
Permitless Concealed Carry
Since July 1, 2023, Florida has allowed eligible individuals to carry a concealed firearm without a state-issued permit. To carry under this law, you must be at least 21, a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and not disqualified from firearm possession under state or federal law. The eligibility test matches the one for the Concealed Weapon or Firearm License, so anyone who would have qualified for the permit can now carry without one.
State-level disqualifiers include a felony conviction, adjudication as mentally incapacitated, a current domestic violence injunction, a controlled substance conviction within the past three years, and chronic alcohol or substance abuse that impairs normal functioning.7The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Firearm
Carrying a concealed firearm when you do not meet the eligibility criteria is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.8The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.01 – Carrying Concealed Weapons
Why Some People Still Get the Permit
The Concealed Weapon or Firearm License is still issued, and there are practical reasons to apply. The permit grants reciprocity with dozens of other states that honor Florida licenses, which matters when you travel. It also exempts you from the three-day waiting period on every dealer purchase. The initial application runs about $55 for the state license fee, with fingerprinting and processing bringing the total to roughly $120. Renewals cost $45 plus a smaller processing charge.
Open Carry
Florida prohibits openly carrying a firearm in most situations. The exceptions are activity-specific: you can openly carry while fishing, camping, hunting, or practicing at a shooting range, and while traveling directly to or from those activities.9Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 790.25 – Lawful Ownership, Possession, and Use of Firearms and Other Weapons Members of shooting clubs and firearms collectors’ organizations can also openly carry at their events and while traveling to them.
Outside those exceptions, displaying a firearm in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner is a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying up to one year in jail.10The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.10 – Improper Exhibition of Dangerous Weapons or Firearms
Where Firearms Are Prohibited
Even with legal authority to carry concealed, Florida bans firearms in a specific list of places. Violating the restriction is a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in jail.7The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Firearm The prohibited locations are:
- Police stations, sheriff’s offices, highway patrol stations, jails, prisons, and detention facilities.
- Courthouses and courtrooms, though judges may authorize specific individuals to carry in their courtroom.
- Any K-12 school facility, career center, or school-sponsored athletic event not related to firearms.
- College and university buildings and grounds.
- Active polling places.
- Sessions of the Legislature, county commissions, city councils, school boards, and special districts.
- Airport passenger terminals and sterile areas. You can bring a properly cased firearm into the terminal only to check it as luggage.
- Any section of an establishment primarily devoted to serving alcohol for on-premises consumption.
- Professional sporting events not related to firearms.
School grounds carry a stiffer penalty. For someone without a concealed carry license, firearm possession on K-12 property is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Even someone eligible to carry concealed faces a second-degree misdemeanor for bringing a firearm onto school property.
Self-Defense and Stand Your Ground
Florida’s self-defense framework is one of the most expansive in the country, and misunderstanding its boundaries is where people get into serious trouble.
Use of Force in Public
You can use non-deadly force whenever you reasonably believe it is necessary to defend yourself or someone else from an imminent unlawful attack, with no duty to retreat first. For deadly force, the standard is higher: you must reasonably believe deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm, or a forcible felony. You still have no duty to retreat, but you must not be engaged in criminal activity and must be somewhere you have a legal right to be.11Justia Law. Florida Statutes 776.012 – Use or Threatened Use of Force in Defense of Person
Castle Doctrine at Home and in Your Vehicle
The law creates a legal presumption in your favor when someone unlawfully and forcefully enters your home, residence, or occupied vehicle. In that scenario, the law presumes you had a reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm, which makes it considerably easier to justify deadly force. The presumption does not apply if the intruder had a legal right to be there, if the person you used force against was a law enforcement officer performing official duties, or if you were using the property to further criminal activity.
Immunity from Prosecution
If your use of force qualifies as justified under these statutes, you are immune from both criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits. At a pretrial hearing, once you raise a self-defense immunity claim, the prosecution bears the burden of overcoming it by clear and convincing evidence. If a civil plaintiff sues you and the court determines you were immune, the court must award you attorney’s fees and compensation for lost income.12The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 776.032 – Immunity from Criminal Prosecution and Civil Action for Justifiable Use or Threatened Use of Force
Safe Storage Around Minors
If you keep a loaded firearm on property you control and know or should know a child under 16 could gain access, Florida law requires you to lock the firearm in a secure container, store it where a reasonable person would consider it secure, or equip it with a trigger lock. Carrying it on your body also satisfies the requirement.13Justia Law. Florida Statutes 790.174 – Safe Storage of Firearms Required
If you violate the storage requirement and a minor gets the firearm and displays it in public or in a threatening manner, you face a second-degree misdemeanor. The penalty does not apply if the child obtained the firearm through a burglary or other unlawful entry.
Restricted Weapons and NFA Items
Florida prohibits owning short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and machine guns unless the weapon is properly registered under federal law. Under the National Firearms Act, a short-barreled rifle has a barrel under 16 inches and a short-barreled shotgun has a barrel under 18 inches.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5845 – Definitions Possessing any of these without federal registration is a felony under Florida law.15Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 790.221 – Possession of Short-Barreled Rifle, Short-Barreled Shotgun, or Machine Gun; Penalty Destructive devices such as bombs, grenades, and mines are banned under the same framework.
Suppressors are legal in Florida but must be registered with the ATF. Registration requires submitting ATF Form 4 with a passport-style photograph and fingerprint cards, and a copy of the completed form must go to the chief law enforcement officer in your jurisdiction.16Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm – Form 4 As of January 1, 2026, the federal transfer tax for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and most other NFA items dropped to $0. Machine guns and destructive devices still carry the longstanding $200 transfer tax. The registration requirement itself stays in place regardless of the tax amount.
Risk Protection Orders
Florida’s red-flag law allows a court to temporarily remove firearms from someone who poses a significant danger to themselves or others. Only law enforcement officers or agencies can file a petition; family members and private citizens cannot petition directly, though they can report concerns to law enforcement.17The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.401 – Risk Protection Orders
A judge can issue a temporary order without prior notice if law enforcement shows reasonable cause to believe the individual poses a near-term danger. That order lasts until the full hearing. At the hearing, if the court finds clear and convincing evidence of a significant danger, it issues a final risk protection order lasting up to 12 months. Once an order is served, the person must surrender all firearms, ammunition, and any concealed carry license to local law enforcement.
Traveling with Firearms
Permitless carry covers you within Florida, but crossing state lines is a different situation. Federal “safe passage” protection lets you transport a firearm through any state where you could not otherwise carry, as long as the firearm is unloaded and stored where it is not readily accessible from the passenger compartment. In a vehicle without a separate trunk, the firearm must be in a locked container other than the glove box or console.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 926A – Interstate Transportation of Firearms
Safe passage only covers you while in transit. If you stop overnight or make a prolonged stop in a state that restricts firearm possession, the protection may not apply. You also must be legal to possess the firearm at both your origin and your destination.
For air travel, TSA requires firearms to be unloaded and placed in a locked, hard-sided container, then checked as baggage. Only you should have the key or combination. Ammunition can travel in the same locked case or in its own container designed for that purpose. Firearms and ammunition are never allowed in carry-on luggage.19Transportation Security Administration. Transporting Firearms and Ammunition
Local Ordinances Do Not Add Rules
Florida prohibits cities, counties, and other local governments from creating their own firearm regulations. The Legislature has declared that it occupies the entire field of firearms and ammunition regulation, so a local ordinance restricting where or how you carry has no legal effect even if it remains on the books.20The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.33 – Field of Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition Preempted
Enforcement is unusually sharp. A local official who knowingly and willfully enacts or enforces a prohibited ordinance faces a personal civil fine of up to $5,000 and can be removed from office by the Governor, and cannot use public funds for the legal defense.