GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In a landmark decision, a Florida appeals court on Wednesday struck down Florida’s law against openly carrying a gun in public as unconstitutional, a decades-old statute that made Florida one of only a handful of states banning gun owners from carrying a pistol on their hip or slinging a rifle over their shoulder in public.
The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel for the 1st District Court of Appeals concluded that the 2nd Amendment and what it called the nation’s “historical tradition of gun regulation” made Florida’s gun law unconstitutional. The court’s jurisdiction stretches from the college town of Gainesville through the Panhandle.
“History confirms that the right to bear arms in public necessarily includes the right to do so openly,” the court ruled. “That is not to say that open carry is absolute or immune from reasonable regulation. But what the state may not do is extinguish the right altogether for ordinary, law-abiding, adult citizens.”
It wasn’t clear whether the case would be further appealed to Florida’s Supreme Court or when it might become common for people in Florida to begin openly carrying guns.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in 2023 signed a law that no longer required a government permit to carry a concealed weapon in Florida, applauded the ruling.
“This decision aligns state policy with my long-held position and with the vast majority of states throughout the union,” DeSantis wrote on social media. “Ultimately, the court correctly ruled that the text of the Second Amendment – ‘to keep and bear arms’ – says what it means and means what it says.”
The state’s new attorney general, James Uthmeier, would decide whether to appeal the decision and is a gun rights advocate. He said on social media his office also supports the ruling. He called it “a big win for the Second Amendment rights of Floridians.”
“Our God-given right to self-defense is indispensable,” Uthmeier said.
The ruling involved a case in Pensacola against Stanley Victor McDaniels, 42, who deliberately flouted the law on the Fourth of July in 2022, waving his hand at cars near a busy intersection with a loaded Beretta pistol tucked visibly in his waistband and holding a copy of the U.S. Constitution. At the time, McDaniels held a valid Florida concealed weapons permit.
“McDaniels was cooperative. He explained that he wanted to take this case to the Supreme Court,” the appeals judges wrote.
McDaniels, who ran as a write-in candidate for Congress earlier this year, could not be reached immediately for comment. He remained in the Escambia County Jail on the same day the court issued its ruling, convicted of violating a domestic violence injunction involving his estranged wife. He was expected to be released from jail in the misdemeanor case on Jan. 10.
County officials there declined Wednesday to make McDaniels available for a phone interview.
The court’s decision throws out the misdemeanor case against McDaniels, who had been convicted by a jury of openly carrying a weapon. The judge had sentenced McDaniels to six months of probation and 50 hours of community service. He was also banned from owning any guns and had to give up his Beretta pistol. The appeals ruling overturned his conviction and reversed his sentence.
Gun control advocates quickly criticized the ruling.
"This decision is both dangerous and will lead to more gun violence in Florida,” said Fred Guttenberg, who became a gun safety advocate after his daughter, Jaime, died in the Parkland High massacre in Broward County. “It is wrong on the facts and the law.”
“In case you don’t die from polio, Florida man has you covered with his AR-15 at Disney,” wrote Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action. She was referring to the governor’s earlier announcement that Florida also was working to eliminate all vaccine mandates.
DeSantis, who earlier this week lifted sales taxes on purchases of guns and ammunition in Florida through the end of the year, said as recently as Monday he would sign any open carry bill the GOP-controlled Legislature passed. The appeals ruling renders moot efforts by lawmakers, who for years have failed to approve such a measure over concerns from law enforcement agencies worried about gun safety.
“I've said for years that would be something that I would sign," DeSantis said.
The court’s ruling did not immediately appear to affect other state and federal limits on carrying guns, such as on school or college campuses, courthouses or federal buildings. Private businesses also may limit who can carry guns in their stores or on their property. Disney World, for example, already bans guns or ammunition anywhere in its parks, hotels and even parking lots. Florida previously allowed openly carrying guns when someone was fishing or hunting.
McDaniels had been convicted in 2000 on a felony drug charge of possessing LSD that he intended to sell, according to court records. A felony conviction typically would preclude someone in Florida from owning or buying a gun, but the circuit judge in that case agreed to withhold adjudication – effectively throwing out the case – if McDaniels complied with terms of his 12 months of probation, including substance abuse therapy and submitting to random drug testing.
In the years after his intentional arrest at the Pensacola intersection, McDaniels also faced misdemeanor charges of domestic violence and violating an injunction involving his estranged wife. She told sheriff’s deputies he parked his motorcycle last year outside the preschool where she worked and later followed her driving on his motorcycle, despite a court order to stay away. A judge sentenced him last week to roughly three months in jail after he wrote her an email discussing their relationship.
A domestic violence conviction or active injunction can also be grounds in Florida to prevent a person from buying or possessing a gun.
McDaniels’ estranged wife did not immediately return a voice mail or message left with her attorney.
The three district judges in the case were Stephanie W. Ray, appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Scott; Lori S. Rowe, appointed by then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist; and M. Kemmerly Thomas, also appointed by Scott.
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This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at s.ranta@freshtakeflorida.com. You can donate to support our students here.