Can I Take My Gun on Vacation to Florida? Carry and Vehicle Rules

Yes, you can take your gun on vacation to Florida. Any adult 18 or older who can legally possess a firearm may keep one in a private vehicle, and adults 21 and older can carry it concealed on their person without a Florida-issued permit under the state’s permitless carry law, which took effect July 1, 2023.¹ The rules that trip visitors up are the ones around open carry, prohibited places, and how the firearm has to be stored in your car. Florida also preempts all local firearm regulation, so the rules below apply statewide — no city or county can add its own.²

Keeping a Gun in Your Vehicle

Florida lets anyone 18 or older who can legally possess a firearm carry one inside a private vehicle. No permit required. The single condition is that the firearm must be “securely encased” or otherwise not readily accessible for immediate use.³

“Securely encased” is defined more broadly than most visitors expect. Any of these qualifies:⁴

A glove compartment or center console, locked or unlocked
A snapped holster
A gun case, locked or unlocked
A zippered gun case
Any closed box or container that requires opening a lid or cover

A pistol tossed on the passenger seat or shoved in a door pocket does not qualify. If there’s a barrier between you and the gun, you’re within the law. These rules apply the same way to residents and out-of-state visitors.

Rifles and shotguns get slightly different treatment. Long guns may be carried anywhere inside a private vehicle when being transported for a lawful purpose, without needing to be encased.³

Driving to Florida Through Other States

If you’re road-tripping in, you’ll likely cross states with tighter laws than Florida’s. The federal Firearm Owners Protection Act gives you a safe-passage right: you may transport a firearm through any state as long as you can legally possess it at both your starting point and your destination.⁵

The federal storage requirements are stricter than Florida’s in-state rules. The firearm must be unloaded, and neither the gun nor any ammunition can be accessible from the passenger compartment. In a car or SUV with a separate trunk, that means the trunk. In a pickup or a vehicle without a walled-off trunk, the firearm and ammunition must go in a locked container — and the glove compartment and center console do not count.⁵

Safe passage only covers you while you’re actually traveling. Overnight stops, hotel check-ins, and other breaks in a restrictive state can put you outside the protection. Plan your route accordingly.

Flying Into Florida With a Firearm

If you’re flying, TSA rules apply and they’re the same at every U.S. airport. Your firearm must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided container, and declared to the airline at the ticket counter when you check your bag. The container has to fully prevent access — a case that pries open won’t be accepted.⁶

Ammunition has to be packed separately in fiber, wood, or metal boxes, or in packaging specifically designed to hold ammunition. Loose rounds in a bag won’t pass.⁷ You should be the only one with the key or combination; TSA may need to inspect the case with you present.

Airlines often add their own restrictions on top — weight limits on ammunition, fees for declaring a firearm, and rules that can change without much notice. TSA itself tells travelers to check directly with the carrier for any additional limitations or fees.⁶

Carrying Concealed as a Visitor

Once you leave the vehicle, the rules change. Florida’s permitless carry law lets you carry concealed without a Florida license, and it applies to non-residents. But you have to meet the same standards the state would apply if it were issuing you a license:⁸

You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien and at least 21 years old
You cannot have a felony conviction or a controlled substance conviction within the last three years
You cannot be subject to an active injunction or have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution
You cannot otherwise be prohibited from possessing a firearm under Florida or federal law

If you carry concealed, Florida law requires you to have valid identification on you and to show it to a law enforcement officer on request. That applies whether you’re carrying under the permitless law or under a license.

Getting this wrong is not a minor issue. Carrying a concealed firearm without meeting the eligibility rules is a third-degree felony.⁸

Visitors Aged 18 to 20

If you’re 18, 19, or 20, you can keep a firearm in your vehicle under the securely-encased rules, but you cannot carry concealed on your person because the permitless carry law requires you to be 21. Outside the car, your options are limited to specific activities Florida treats as lawful uses — fishing, camping, hunting, or traveling to and from a shooting range.³

Open Carry Is Not Allowed

This is the rule that catches visitors from open-carry states off guard. Florida prohibits openly carrying a firearm in almost all circumstances. Qualifying for concealed carry doesn’t change that — if the firearm is visible, you’re breaking the law.⁹

There’s one narrow exception: if you’re authorized to carry concealed, a brief and unintentional exposure — a shirt riding up, for example — is not a violation, so long as you’re not displaying the firearm in a threatening way. Wearing a holstered pistol openly on your hip, however, is a second-degree misdemeanor carrying up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.⁹¹⁰

Places You Cannot Bring a Firearm

Permitless carry doesn’t unlock every location. A long list of places remain off-limits, and knowingly carrying a concealed weapon into any of them is a second-degree misdemeanor — up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. The restrictions apply to everyone, whether you have a Florida license, an out-of-state permit, or no permit at all.¹¹¹⁰

Police stations, sheriff’s offices, and highway patrol stations
Jails, prisons, and detention facilities
Courthouses and courtrooms
Polling places
Meetings of any governing body (county commission, city council, school board, state legislature)
School, college, or professional athletic events not related to firearms
All elementary and secondary schools, career centers, and administration buildings
College and university facilities (with a narrow exception for students or employees carrying stun guns)
The bar area of any establishment serving alcohol for on-premises consumption
Airport passenger terminals and sterile areas past security checkpoints
Any location where federal law prohibits firearms

The alcohol rule needs a closer look because visitors misread it constantly. The statute covers the portion of a business “primarily devoted” to serving drinks, not the whole building. At a restaurant with a separate bar, the bar area is off-limits but the dining room may not be. In practice that line is fuzzy, and being wrong means criminal charges. Leaving the firearm secured in your vehicle before going anywhere that serves alcohol is the safe choice.¹¹

Storage in Your Hotel or Rental

If you’re vacationing with anyone under 16, Florida’s safe storage law applies wherever you’re staying. When you leave a loaded firearm somewhere under your control — hotel room, rental house, campsite — and you know or should know a minor could access it, the firearm has to be locked in a container, kept in a place a reasonable person would consider secure, or fitted with a trigger lock. The only exception is when the firearm is on your body or close enough to grab as quickly as if it were.¹²

Violating this becomes a second-degree misdemeanor if a child actually gains access to the firearm and possesses or displays it in public or in a threatening manner. A portable lock box or trigger lock in your luggage removes the risk.

1
Executive Office of the Governor. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs HB 543 – Constitutional Carry
2
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.33 – Field of Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition Preempted to State Legislature
3
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.25 – Lawful Ownership, Possession, and Use of Firearms and Other Weapons
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.001 – Definitions
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 926A – Interstate Transportation of Firearms
6
Transportation Security Administration. Transporting Firearms and Ammunition
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Transportation Security Administration. Firearms
8
Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.01 – Carrying of Concealed Weapons or Concealed Firearms
9
Justia Law. Florida Code 790.053 – Open Carrying of Weapons
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Online Sunshine. Florida Code 775.082 and 775.083 – Penalties and Fines
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Justia Law. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Concealed Firearm
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Online Sunshine. Florida Code 790.174 – Safe Storage of Firearms Required