Source.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida appeals court has struck down the state’s decades-old ban on the open carrying of firearms, ruling the prohibition violates the Second Amendment.

In a decision released Wednesday, the First District Court of Appeal of Florida reversed the conviction of Stanley Victor McDaniels, a Pensacola man arrested after openly carrying a holstered handgun during a July 4 demonstration in 2022.

Judge Stephanie Ray, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said Florida’s law “cannot be reconciled” with the U.S. Constitution.

“The Constitution protects the right to carry arms openly for self-defense,” Ray wrote. “Florida’s Open Carry Ban cannot be reconciled with that guarantee. Section 790.053, Florida Statutes, is therefore declared unconstitutional.”

McDaniels had been standing at a downtown intersection with a visible holstered handgun and a copy of the U.S. Constitution, waving to cars while recording himself on camera. Police later charged him with violating Florida’s 1987 open-carry statute, one of the strictest in the nation. He was convicted and sentenced to probation and community service, though his sentence was stayed pending appeal.

He argued the law violated his Second Amendment rights. The trial judge disagreed but certified the issue as one of “great public importance,” sending the case up to the appeals court.

Florida’s ban made it a second-degree misdemeanor to openly carry a firearm, with narrow exceptions for activities like hunting and fishing. The court said that approach was far outside the nation’s historical tradition of gun regulation.

The panel relied heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which required judges to assess gun laws based on text, history, and tradition rather than balancing public safety against individual rights.

The court found no historical precedent for a categorical ban on open carry. Instead, it said 19th-century courts and legislatures generally treated open carry as the preferred and constitutionally protected method of bearing arms, while restricting or prohibiting concealed carry (Editorial remark: I’ve said this for as long as I’ve been covering this issue. Historically, only criminals concealed their weapons).

The decision marks a sharp reversal from just eight years ago. In 2017, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the state’s open-carry prohibition, ruling it did not violate either the U.S. or Florida constitutions. The justices at the time said the law was substantially related to the state’s interest in public safety and that Floridians still had broad access to firearms through the state’s concealed-carry licensing system.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis applauded the decision in a post on X. He has called for lawmakers to pass an open carry bill.

“This decision aligns state policy with my long-held position and with the vast majority of states throughout the union,” DeSantis wrote. “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.”

Attorney General James Uthmeier, whose office defended the statute in court, quickly welcomed the decision.

In a post on social media Wednesday afternoon, Uthmeier wrote: “Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals just ruled that Florida’s open carry ban is no longer constitutionally enforceable statewide,” said Uthmeier. “Our office fully supports the Court’s decision. This is a big win for the Second Amendment rights of Floridians. As we’ve all witnessed over the last few days, our God-given right to self-defense is indispensable.”

The ruling immediately vacates McDaniels’ conviction and reverses his sentence. It also calls into question the enforceability of Florida’s open-carry law statewide, potentially making Florida the latest state to allow open display of firearms in public.

The state could still seek further review, either by requesting a rehearing or appealing to the Florida Supreme Court.

Ridiculous. As if “public safety” had anything to do with the law.

Between the state supreme court’s decision in 2017 and this decision came Bruen with its tests, forbidding tiers of scrutiny.

This was a manly move by McDaniels and I applaud his courage to challenge the stupidity of the law. He has done what the legislature was too cowardly to do over years and even decades.

Hopefully this silliness is finished, and the law is unenforceable (and the state AG will say so to law enforcement).

Who knows what the future holds is a democratic administration falls in behind Santis or later?