A Florida appeals court on Sept. 10 unanimously struck down the state’s law banning the open carry of firearms.
The ruling by the state’s First District Court of Appeal reversed the conviction of Stanley Victor McDaniels. He was found guilty under a 1987 state law that makes it “unlawful for any person to openly carry on or about his or her person any firearm or electric weapon or device.”
Florida Gov. Bob Martinez, a Republican, signed the law in 1987, after state lawmakers discovered that a recently passed concealed carry law created a legal loophole that allowed people to walk around in public with guns. Legislators worried that national reports on the loophole could hurt tourism in the state. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the law in 2017 in a case known as Norman v. State of Florida.
Appeals Judge Stephanie Ray said in the court’s opinion on Sept. 10 that Florida is “an outlier” that, along with Illinois, Connecticut, and California, generally forbids the open carrying of guns.
McDaniels argued that the open carry ban violated the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right to bear arms, the judge said.
“Guided by the Constitution’s text and this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation, we agree,” Ray said in an opinion that was joined by Judges Lori Rowe and Kemmerly Thomas.
“We therefore declare the law unconstitutional, vacate McDaniels’s conviction, and reverse his sentence.”
The decision echoed the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.
In that case, the nation’s highest court ruled that laws preventing law-abiding individuals from carrying firearms in public for self-defense can’t be upheld unless they are consistent with the nation’s historical firearm regulation traditions.
McDaniels’s case goes back to July 4, 2022, when he positioned himself at an intersection in downtown Pensacola, holding a copy of the U.S. Constitution in one hand while he waved at vehicles that passed by, the opinion said.
At the same time, McDaniels had a loaded handgun tucked into a waistband-level holster in his pants. The weapon was visible to anyone nearby, but McDaniels was not threatening anyone. He had positioned a camera on a tripod to record what he was doing, according to the opinion.
When police showed up hours later, he cooperated, telling them he wanted to take this case to the Supreme Court. When asked for identification, he produced a copy of his state concealed carry permit. The police informed him that concealed carry was legal but open carry was not. They took the gun out of his pants and gave him back his holster, while their body cameras recorded. McDaniels was later charged, according to the opinion.
Because the plain text of the Second Amendment covers the open carrying of guns in public, that conduct presumptively enjoys protection under the Constitution. This means the state must meet a heavy legal burden to establish that there is “a relevant historical tradition of firearms regulation that justifies its prohibition,” the opinion said.
Here, the state failed to meet that burden, the court stated.
“The historical record makes clear that open carry was regarded as the lawful and preferred mode of bearing arms, while concealed carry was viewed as dangerous to public safety and ineffective for self-defense,” the opinion said.
“No historical tradition supports Florida’s Open Carry Ban,” and history shows that the right to bear arms in public “necessarily includes the right to do so openly.”
The open carry ban cannot be reconciled with that right, the opinion said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hailed the new court ruling on X.
The decision “aligns state policy with my long-held position and with the vast majority of states throughout the union,” the Republican governor said.
“Ultimately, the court correctly rules that the text of the Second Amendment—‘to keep and bear arms’—says what it means and means what it says.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier indicated he had no interest in appealing the ruling invalidating the law.
After the First District Court of Appeal found the open carry ban was no longer constitutional, “our office fully supports the Court’s decision,” he said in a post on X.
“This is a big win for the Second Amendment rights of Floridians,” the attorney general added.
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