Florida Gun Laws: Concealed Carry, Storage, and 10-20-Life

Florida gun laws let anyone 21 or older buy a firearm and, since July 1, 2023, carry a concealed handgun without a state-issued license, as long as they meet the same eligibility rules that used to apply to licensees. Open carry is still banned in most situations, specific locations are off-limits even to lawful carriers, and firearms used in certain felonies trigger mandatory prison sentences that judges cannot reduce. State law also blocks cities and counties from writing their own gun rules, so what follows applies the same way in Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, and every small town in between.

Buying a Firearm

You must be at least 21 to purchase a firearm in Florida, whether you’re buying from a licensed dealer or a private seller.¹ The only carve-outs are for law enforcement officers, correctional officers, and active military servicemembers.

Dealers submit your information to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for a background check against state and national databases.¹ A separate statute adds a mandatory three-day waiting period between purchase and delivery, not counting weekends or holidays. That wait is waived if you hold a valid concealed weapon license, if you’re trading in another firearm, or if you completed a hunter safety course and are buying a rifle or shotgun.²

Private sales between individuals don’t require a background check or waiting period, but the age floor still applies. Selling a firearm to someone you know is legally barred from owning one is a third-degree felony. Buying a firearm on behalf of a prohibited person, or lying on the purchase form, carries the same felony charge: up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.¹³ A single transaction can produce both state and federal charges.

Permitless Concealed Carry

House Bill 543 took effect July 1, 2023, and dropped the state license requirement for carrying a concealed handgun.⁴ What did not change is who can legally carry. You must be at least 21, have no felony convictions, have no active domestic violence injunction against you, and not be otherwise disqualified under state or federal law.⁵

Carrying while ineligible is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.⁶⁷ You also have to carry valid ID and show it to any officer who asks while you’re armed. Failing to produce ID is a noncriminal violation with a $25 fine.⁸

Why a License Is Still Worth Having

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services still issues concealed weapon licenses, and two practical benefits survive permitless carry.⁹ A Florida license is recognized in 37 other states through reciprocity agreements, so if you drive across a state line without one, you lose that recognition unless the state you enter also allows permitless carry.¹⁰ A license also waives the three-day waiting period on purchases.²

Applying requires an approved firearm safety course and fingerprints. Total cost runs about $97 for a new Florida-resident application, and the license is good for seven years.¹¹

Open Carry Is Still Banned

Florida remains one of the few states that broadly prohibits open carry. Openly displaying a firearm in public is a second-degree misdemeanor with up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.¹²⁷³ The exceptions are narrow: you can openly carry while actively hunting, fishing, or camping, or while traveling directly to or from those activities, and business owners and homeowners can carry openly on their own property.¹³ Everywhere else, the firearm has to stay out of public view.

Where Firearms Are Off-Limits

Even eligible carriers cannot bring a firearm into these places:⁸

Police stations, sheriff’s offices, and highway patrol stations
Jails and prisons
Courthouses and courtrooms, unless a judge authorizes it in a specific courtroom
Polling places on election days
County commission meetings, school board meetings, legislative sessions, and committee hearings
K–12 school buildings and administration facilities, career centers, and college and university facilities (students and staff may carry nonlethal stun guns in limited circumstances)
Any school, college, or professional athletic event not related to firearms
The portion of an alcohol-serving establishment that’s primarily devoted to on-premises drinking
Airport passenger terminals and sterile areas (a properly cased firearm can still be brought through to check as baggage)
Places of nuisance as defined by state statute
Any location where federal law prohibits firearms

Carrying into any of these places on its own is a second-degree misdemeanor. Bringing a firearm into a prohibited location while also committing another felony triggers the 10-20-Life escalation described below.

Firearms in Your Vehicle and Your Employer’s Parking Lot

Florida’s parking-lot law protects your right to keep a legally owned firearm locked inside your private vehicle, including in an employer’s parking area.¹⁴ Public and private employers cannot ban employees, customers, or invitees from storing a firearm locked in or locked to their vehicles. Employers also cannot question you about whether a gun is in your car, search the vehicle to find out, or retaliate against you for lawfully storing one. Only law enforcement operating under normal due-process standards can search a private vehicle in an employer’s lot.

Stand Your Ground and the Castle Doctrine

Florida was the first state to pass a stand-your-ground law and its version remains one of the broadest. You can use deadly force anywhere you have a legal right to be, with no duty to retreat, if you reasonably believe it’s necessary to prevent imminent death, serious injury, or a forcible felony.¹⁵ The catch: you lose the protection if you’re engaged in criminal activity at the time.

Inside your home, residence, or occupied vehicle, the castle doctrine goes further. When someone unlawfully and forcibly enters, the law presumes you had a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious harm, which shifts the burden in any resulting legal proceeding.¹⁶ The presumption doesn’t apply if the person entering had a legal right to be there, if you were using the location for criminal activity, or if the person was an identified law enforcement officer performing official duties. “Dwelling” covers houses, apartments, mobile homes, and even tents or other temporary overnight shelters. A vehicle must be occupied at the time for the presumption to apply.

Safe Storage When Kids Are Around

If a child under 16 could gain access to a loaded firearm, you have to store it in a locked box or container, in a location a reasonable person would consider secure, or with a trigger lock installed.¹⁷ The rule doesn’t apply to a firearm you’re carrying on your body or keeping within arm’s reach.

If you violate the storage rule and a minor gets the gun and displays or possesses it in public or in a threatening way, you face a second-degree misdemeanor: up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. If the minor fires the weapon and someone is hurt or killed, the charges can rise to a felony, and prosecutors may add child neglect or endangerment counts. The statute doesn’t apply if the minor obtained the firearm through someone else’s break-in.

Risk Protection Orders

Florida’s risk protection order law lets law enforcement petition a court to temporarily remove firearms and ammunition from someone who poses a significant danger to themselves or others.¹⁸ Only law enforcement agencies can file the petition. Family members and private citizens cannot file directly, though they can report concerns to police.

A judge can issue a temporary order without the gun owner present, based on evidence of threats or dangerous behavior. The subject of the order must surrender all firearms and any concealed weapon license, and a full hearing follows on whether to extend the order. Refusing to surrender weapons in violation of an RPO is a third-degree felony.

No Local Gun Laws

You don’t need to check your city or county code before carrying in Florida. State law preempts the entire field of firearm and ammunition regulation, so no local government can pass its own gun ordinance, and any conflicting local rules on the books are void.¹⁹

The enforcement teeth are unusual. A court finding a knowing and willful violation can impose a civil fine of up to $5,000 against the responsible local official personally, and the Governor can remove that official from office. Public funds can’t be used to defend or reimburse the official. Residents or organizations harmed by an illegal local ordinance can sue for injunctive relief, attorney fees, and actual damages up to $100,000. Good-faith reliance on legal counsel is not a defense.

10-20-Life

Florida’s 10-20-Life law attaches mandatory minimum prison sentences whenever a firearm is used in certain felonies, including murder, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, sexual battery, aggravated battery, carjacking, and home-invasion robbery.²⁰ The tiers:

10 years if you possessed a firearm during the qualifying felony
20 years if you discharged the firearm
25 years to life if the discharge caused death or great bodily harm

Judges cannot go below these minimums, and the time stacks on top of the sentence for the underlying felony. Separately, carrying a firearm during any felony, even one not on the qualifying list, bumps the offense up by one degree. A third-degree felony becomes a second-degree felony, a second becomes a first, and a first-degree felony becomes a life felony. That mechanic is how bringing a gun into a prohibited location while committing another crime can turn a routine charge into decades in prison.

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.065 – Sale and Delivery of Firearms
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.0655 – Purchase and Delivery of Firearms; Mandatory Waiting Period; Exceptions; Penalties
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 775.083 – Fines
4
Executive Office of the Governor. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs HB 543 – Constitutional Carry
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Florida Senate. CS/HB 543 – Public Safety
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.01 – Carrying Concealed Weapons
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Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.082 – Penalties
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.06 – License to Carry Concealed Weapon or Concealed Firearm
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Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Concealed Weapon License
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Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Concealed Weapon License Reciprocity
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Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Applying for a Concealed Weapon License
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.053 – Open Carrying of Weapons
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Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.25 – Lawful Ownership, Possession, and Use of Firearms and Other Weapons
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.251 – Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 776.012 – Use or Threatened Use of Force in Defense of Person
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 776.013 – Home Protection; Use or Threatened Use of Deadly Force; Presumption of Fear of Death or Great Bodily Harm
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.174 – Safe Storage of Firearms Required
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 790.401 – Risk Protection Orders
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Florida Senate. Florida Code 790.33 – Field of Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition Preempted
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 775.087 – Possession or Use of Weapon; Aggravated Battery; Felony Reclassification; Minimum Sentence