Florida gun laws let eligible adults 21 and older carry a concealed firearm without a permit, require a three-day waiting period on dealer sales, and prohibit open carry outside a short list of activities like hunting and range use. The state also has an expansive Stand Your Ground self-defense doctrine, a red-flag process for temporarily removing firearms from dangerous individuals, and strict rules about where guns cannot go. Because Florida preempts local firearm regulation, the same rules apply in every county and city.
Buying a Firearm in Florida
You must be at least 21 to purchase any firearm from a licensed dealer. A narrow exception lets active law enforcement officers, correctional officers, and military service members who are 18 or older buy a rifle or shotgun.1Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Requirements to Purchase a Firearm
Every dealer sale runs through a background check handled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, not the FBI. The dealer can charge a processing fee of up to $8, submits your information to FDLE, and must wait for an approval number before completing the transfer.2The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.065
A mandatory waiting period of three business days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, separates purchase from delivery. If the 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.3The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.0655
Private Sales Between Individuals
Neither federal nor Florida law requires a background check when a firearm changes hands between two private individuals who are not licensed dealers, and the three-day wait 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 run through a licensed dealer in the buyer’s home state.
Straw Purchases
Buying a firearm on behalf of 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 jumps to 25 years.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 932
Concealed Carry Without a Permit
Since July 1, 2023, Florida has allowed eligible individuals to carry a concealed firearm without a state-issued permit. 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 standards mirror the old Concealed Weapon or Firearm License requirements.
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.5The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.06 If you carry concealed without meeting the criteria, it is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.6The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.01
Why a Permit Still Matters
Florida continues to issue the Concealed Weapon or Firearm License, and holding one has real advantages. The permit grants reciprocity with dozens of states that honor Florida licenses, letting you carry legally when traveling. It also exempts you from the three-day waiting period on every future dealer purchase. The initial application runs about $55 for the state license fee, and fingerprinting and processing bring the total to roughly $120. Renewals are $45 plus a processing charge.
Open Carry Rules
Florida prohibits openly carrying a firearm in most situations. The exceptions are activity-specific: fishing, camping, hunting, or practicing at a shooting range, along with direct travel to and from those activities.7Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 790.25 Members of shooting clubs and firearms collectors’ organizations can also openly carry at their events.
Outside those narrow exceptions, displaying a firearm in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner is a first-degree misdemeanor carrying up to one year in jail.8The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.10
Where Firearms Are Prohibited
Even with lawful authority to carry concealed, Florida bans firearms in specific places. Violating these restrictions is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail.5The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.06 The prohibited locations include:
- Any police station, sheriff’s office, highway patrol station, jail, prison, or detention facility.
- Any courthouse or courtroom, though a judge may authorize specific individuals to carry in their courtroom.
- K-12 school facilities, career centers, and school-sponsored athletic events not related to firearms.
- College and university buildings and grounds.
- Any active polling place.
- Sessions of the Legislature, county commissions, city councils, school boards, and special districts.
- Inside airport passenger terminals and sterile areas. A properly cased firearm can enter the terminal only to be checked as luggage.
- Any section of an establishment primarily devoted to serving alcohol for on-premises consumption.
- Any professional sporting event not related to firearms.
Schools carry a harsher penalty than most locations on the list. For someone without a concealed carry license, bringing a firearm onto school grounds 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 doing so on school property.
Stand Your Ground and Self-Defense
Florida’s self-defense law is one of the broadest in the country, and misreading its limits is where people get into serious trouble.
Force in Public Places
You can use non-deadly force whenever you reasonably believe it is necessary to defend yourself or another person from an imminent unlawful attack. You have 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.9Justia Law. Florida Statutes 776.012
Castle Doctrine at Home and in Your Vehicle
The law presumes you had a reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm when someone unlawfully and forcefully enters your home, residence, or occupied vehicle. That presumption makes it considerably easier to justify deadly force. It 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 and Lawsuits
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 has to overcome it by clear and convincing evidence. If a civil plaintiff sues you and the court finds you were immune, the court must award you attorney’s fees and compensation for lost income.10The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 776.032
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 to it, you must lock the firearm in a secure container, store it in a location a reasonable person would consider secure, or equip it with a trigger lock. Carrying it on your body also satisfies the requirement.11Justia Law. Florida Statutes 790.174
If you violate the storage rule and a minor gets the firearm and displays it in public or in a threatening way, you face a second-degree misdemeanor. The penalty does not apply if the child obtained the firearm through a burglary or other unlawful entry.
Federal Disqualifiers That Override State Eligibility
Meeting every Florida requirement does not guarantee you can legally possess a firearm. Federal law creates its own list of prohibited persons that applies in Florida regardless of state eligibility. Under 18 U.S.C. ยง 922(g), you cannot possess a firearm or ammunition if you fall into any of these categories:12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922
- A felony conviction, meaning any crime punishable by more than one year in prison, whether or not you served time.
- Status as a fugitive from justice.
- Current unlawful use 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.
- Adjudication as mentally defective or commitment to a mental institution.
- A conviction for any misdemeanor involving physical force or a deadly weapon against a spouse, former spouse, co-parent, or cohabitant. This bar is permanent.13United States Department of Justice. Restrictions on the Possession of Firearms by Individuals Convicted of a Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence
- A qualifying domestic violence protective order that includes a finding of credible threat.
- Discharge from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions.
- Renounced U.S. citizenship.
- Certain non-citizens, including anyone in the country illegally or admitted on a nonimmigrant visa, with limited exceptions.
The marijuana disqualifier catches more Florida gun owners than almost anything else on the list. ATF Form 4473, filled out at every licensed dealer purchase, 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.
Risk Protection Orders
Florida’s red-flag law lets a court 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.14The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 790.401
A judge can issue a temporary order without prior notice if law enforcement shows reasonable cause to believe the person poses a danger in the near future. That temporary order lasts until a 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 served, the person must surrender all firearms, ammunition, and any concealed carry license to local law enforcement.
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.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5845 Possessing any of them without federal registration is a felony under Florida law.16Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 790.221
Destructive devices such as bombs, grenades, mines, and certain large-bore weapons are banned under the same framework. Suppressors are legal to own in Florida but must be registered with the ATF using Form 4, along with fingerprint cards and a photograph.17Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. ATF Form 4 As of January 1, 2026, the federal transfer tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and most other NFA items dropped to $0. Machine guns and destructive devices still carry the $200 transfer tax. Registration is required either way.
Traveling With a Firearm
Florida’s permitless carry law only covers you inside state borders. Federal law provides a “safe passage” protection for interstate travel: you can transport a firearm through a 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 Safe passage only covers you in transit. An overnight or prolonged stop in a restrictive state may fall outside the protection, and you must be legal to possess the firearm at both origin and 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 go in the same locked case or in its own container designed for that purpose. Firearms and ammunition are not permitted in carry-on luggage under any circumstances.19Transportation Security Administration. Transporting Firearms and Ammunition
State Preemption of Local Gun Laws
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
The enforcement teeth are 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. Officials found in violation cannot use public funds to pay for their legal defense.