Can You Conceal Carry in a Bar in Florida? Statute and Penalties

You can conceal carry inside a Florida restaurant that serves alcohol, but you cannot conceal carry in a bar in Florida, or in any part of a mixed establishment that functions primarily as one. Florida Statute 790.06(12)(a) draws the line at the portion of a licensed establishment “primarily devoted” to serving alcohol for on-site consumption. Cross that line knowingly and you have committed a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.¹

What the Statute Actually Prohibits

The prohibition is narrower than most people assume. It applies to “any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, which portion of the establishment is primarily devoted to such purpose.”¹ The words doing the work are “portion” and “primarily devoted.” A liquor license alone does not turn a whole restaurant into a prohibited zone. A sit-down restaurant with a separate bar counter is treated as two zones under the statute: the dining room, where carry is permitted, and the bar section, where it isn’t.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which administers concealed weapon licenses, uses the same framing in its published possession restrictions.²

The Gray Area in Mixed-Use Establishments

The statute sets no square-footage test, no fixed ratio of food to alcohol sales, and no signage requirement. Nothing in the law tells an establishment to mark where the bar zone begins. That leaves you making a judgment call every time you walk in.

Brewpubs with high-top tables clustered around the taps, sports bars that serve full meals at the counter, and steakhouses where the restrooms sit past the bar all produce genuinely unclear boundaries. If a prosecutor later argues the spot you were standing in was primarily devoted to serving alcohol, you are the one arguing back. The safer read is to treat any area centered on a bar counter or lounge seating as off-limits. If it looks and feels like a bar, assume the statute reaches it.

The rule produces some awkward results. If you are eating dinner in the dining room and need to cross through the bar to reach the restroom, the statute does not carve out an exception for passing through. Whether that gets enforced in practice is a different question from what the law says.

Alcohol and Carrying in Places Where It’s Legal

Even where carry is allowed, Florida Statute 790.151 makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to “use a firearm” while under the influence of alcohol to the point where your normal faculties are impaired.³

“Use” is defined narrowly. It means discharging the weapon or having it loaded and in your hand. A holstered firearm that stays holstered does not meet the definition.³ So a single beer at dinner with your weapon holstered does not, on its own, violate 790.151.

Technically legal is not the same as advisable. Any alcohol moves you closer to the impairment line, and if something forces you to draw, you have entered the statute’s territory. The self-defense exception exists, but it becomes a harder argument once alcohol is in the picture. The standard advice from firearms instructors and defense attorneys is the same: if you’re carrying, don’t drink.

Penalties for Carrying Into a Bar Area

Carrying into a prohibited location under 790.06(12)(a) is a second-degree misdemeanor when done knowingly and willfully.¹ The exposure is up to 60 days in jail⁴ and up to a $500 fine.

Modest as those numbers look next to other firearm offenses, a conviction is still a criminal record, with knock-on effects for employment, professional licensing, and future carry eligibility. The “knowingly and willfully” language requires awareness that you are carrying into a prohibited area. It does not require you to know that bars are on the prohibited list; ignorance of the statute itself is not a defense.

Permitless Carry Doesn’t Change This

Florida’s permitless carry law took effect July 1, 2023, allowing anyone 21 or older who is legally eligible to possess a firearm to carry it concealed without a Concealed Weapon or Firearm License.⁵ The change was about who needs a license, not about where anyone can carry. Every prohibited location in 790.06(12)(a), including the bar-area restriction, applies the same way whether you carry with a CWFL or without one.¹

Bars Are One of Many Prohibited Locations

The bar-area restriction sits alongside more than a dozen other prohibited locations in 790.06(12)(a), including courthouses, polling places, meetings of county or municipal governing bodies, police and sheriff’s stations, jails and prisons, schools and colleges, school and professional athletic events, airport passenger terminals, and any place where federal law prohibits firearms.¹ The same second-degree misdemeanor penalty applies across the list, and Florida does not require private businesses to post signage for these prohibitions to have effect.

1
Justia Law. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Firearm
2
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services – Possession Restrictions
3
Justia Law. Florida Code 790.151 – Using Firearm While Under the Influence of Alcoholic Beverages, Chemical Substances, or Controlled Substances; Penalties
4
Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.082 – Penalties; Applicability of Sentencing Structures;டentences
5
Executive Office of the Governor. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs HB 543 – Constitutional Carry