Can an 18-Year-Old Carry a Firearm in Florida?

An 18-year-old in Florida can legally keep a firearm at home, transport one in a vehicle if it’s securely encased, and carry during hunting, fishing, camping, or target shooting. What an 18-year-old cannot do is carry a concealed firearm in public, open carry on the street, or buy a gun from a licensed dealer. Florida’s 2023 permitless carry law did not lower the age for concealed carry, and no workaround exists for adults aged 18 to 20. Crossing these lines is a felony in most cases, so the details matter.

At Home or Your Place of Business

Once you turn 18, Florida’s restrictions on minors possessing firearms fall away. You can own and keep handguns, rifles, and shotguns at your home or at a business you own or operate, without any license or permit. Loaded or unloaded, stored anywhere on the property — the age-based carry rules do not reach inside those walls.

Outside them, different rules take over. That’s where most 18-year-olds get into trouble.

In a Private Vehicle

Florida law lets anyone 18 or older who lawfully possesses a firearm keep it inside a private vehicle, as long as it’s “securely encased” or otherwise not readily accessible for immediate use.¹ You cannot carry it on your body inside the vehicle unless you meet the concealed carry age requirement of 21.

“Securely encased” has a specific meaning under Florida law. It covers a firearm in a glove compartment (locked or unlocked), snapped into a holster, inside a gun case (locked or unlocked), in a zippered gun case, or in any closed box or container that requires opening a lid or cover to access.² A pistol sitting loose on the passenger seat does not qualify. A pistol snapped into a holster on the console does.

Long guns get more flexibility. Rifles and shotguns can be carried anywhere inside a private vehicle for any lawful use, without the securely encased requirement.¹ A visible rifle in the back seat is still going to draw police attention, so practical judgment matters even when the statute is on your side.

Hunting, Fishing, Camping, and Target Shooting

Florida carves out activity-based exceptions that let 18-year-olds carry firearms outside the home. If you are actively engaged in fishing, camping, lawful hunting, or target shooting, you can carry. The same exception covers direct travel to and from those activities. Members of shooting clubs traveling to and from ranges, gun shows, or competitions fall under it as well.³

These exceptions override both the concealed carry age restriction and the open carry ban. During a hunting trip you can carry a holstered sidearm or a slung rifle. The important word is “during.” Stopping at a restaurant on the way home from a fishing trip and walking in with a pistol on your hip pushes you outside the exemption. Courts look at whether you were genuinely engaged in or directly traveling to or from one of the covered activities.

An 18-year-old cannot strap on a holster and walk through a neighborhood by calling it a camping trip. The activity has to be real, and the carry has to be connected to it.

Concealed Carry Requires Being 21

Florida’s permitless carry law, signed in 2023, allows eligible residents to carry a concealed firearm in public without a permit.⁴ Eligibility tracks the same criteria as the concealed weapon license, and one of those criteria is being at least 21 years old.⁵ Permitless carry did not lower the age. It removed the paperwork for people who already qualified.

The concealed carry statute confirms this. You may carry concealed only if you hold a license under 790.06 or meet every eligibility requirement for one. An 18-year-old satisfies neither path.⁶ How you got the firearm — purchase, gift, inheritance — makes no difference.

The penalty is serious. Carrying a concealed firearm without meeting the legal criteria is a third-degree felony.⁶⁷⁸ A felony conviction at 18 follows you for decades, affecting employment, housing, voting rights, and future firearm ownership.

Open Carry Is Banned

Florida is not an open carry state. Openly carrying a firearm or electric weapon on the body in public is a second-degree misdemeanor, and this applies to everyone regardless of age.⁹ The only exceptions are the outdoor activity carve-outs described above.

Adults with concealed carry rights get some protection if their firearm is briefly and accidentally exposed, such as when a shirt rides up over a holster. That protection does not help an 18-year-old, who is not authorized for concealed carry in the first place.

Buying a Firearm Under 21

Florida prohibits any person under 21 from purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer. This applies to all firearms, and the dealer who makes the sale also faces a third-degree felony charge.¹⁰ The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act raised the purchase age from 18 to 21 in 2018.

One narrow exception exists. Active-duty law enforcement officers, correctional officers, and military servicemembers can still purchase rifles and shotguns from licensed dealers before turning 21.¹⁰ That exception does not cover handguns for anyone under 21.

Gifts and Inheritance

The dealer ban does not close every door. An 18-year-old can legally receive a firearm as a genuine gift from a family member or through inheritance. Private transfers are the main way young adults in Florida come into lawful possession. A firearm received this way is subject to the same rules as any other: keep it at home, transport it securely encased, take it hunting, but do not carry it concealed in public.

Straw Purchases Are a Federal Crime

Having someone else buy a firearm from a dealer on your behalf because you cannot legally purchase it yourself is a federal offense known as a straw purchase. It involves lying on the federal transfer form about who the actual buyer is. A conviction carries up to 10 years in federal prison, and both the buyer and the recipient can be charged.¹¹ A genuine, no-strings-attached gift is legal. A transaction where you provide the money and someone else fills out the paperwork is not.

Places Where Firearms Are Off Limits

Even when your possession is lawful, Florida bans firearms in a long list of locations. These apply whether you’re storing a gun in your vehicle or carrying during a covered activity. Prohibited locations include:

Any public or private preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary school, including school buses and bus stops
Courthouses and courtrooms
Police stations, jails, and prisons
Polling places
Meetings of county commissions, school boards, city councils, and the state legislature
Any portion of an establishment primarily devoted to serving alcohol for on-premises consumption
College and university facilities, with a limited exception for nonlethal stun devices carried by students or employees
Airport terminals past the security checkpoint (a properly cased firearm can be brought into the terminal for checked baggage)
Any location where federal law prohibits firearms⁵

For an 18-year-old, the school prohibition matters most. Possessing a firearm on school property is a third-degree felony. A narrow exception allows keeping a firearm securely encased in a vehicle on school grounds, but school districts can eliminate that exception through written policy.¹² If you’re still in high school or visiting a campus, a gun in your backpack — or, depending on district policy, in your car — is a felony.

Ammunition

Federal law bars licensed dealers from selling handgun ammunition to anyone under 21. Rifle and shotgun ammunition can be sold to anyone 18 or older.¹³ If you own a handgun through a private transfer, expect inconsistent enforcement at the retail counter: cartridges like 9mm or .45 ACP are classified as handgun ammunition by most retailers even when they can be used in certain long guns.

The Bottom Line

Florida gives 18-year-olds a narrower set of firearm rights than many assume. You can keep a gun at home, transport a handgun in your vehicle if it’s securely encased, and carry while actively hunting, fishing, camping, or shooting at a range. You cannot carry concealed in public, cannot buy from a licensed dealer, and cannot open carry outside those activity-based exceptions. The gap between what feels like an adult right and what the law actually permits is where felony charges live, and prosecutors do not treat these cases lightly.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.25 – Lawful Ownership, Possession, and Use of Firearms and Other Weapons
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.001 – Definitions
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.25 – Lawful Ownership, Possession, and Use of Firearms and Other Weapons
4
Executive Office of the Governor. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs HB 543 – Constitutional Carry
5
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Concealed Firearm
6
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.01 – Carrying of Concealed Weapons or Concealed Firearms
7
Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.082 – Penalties and Sentencing
8
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 775.083 – Fines
9
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.053 – Open Carrying of Weapons
10
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.065 – Sale and Delivery of Firearms
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 924 – Penalties
12
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.115 – Possessing or Discharging Weapons or Firearms at a School-Sponsored Event or on School Property
13
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Minimum Age for Gun Sales and Transfers