The crowd of “gun toting” citizens, expected by some Historic City News readers, never showed up – at least not since last month’s official announcement by Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier that 50-year-old laws on the books in the state were unconstitutional as written and not in accordance with language contained in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Anti-gun lobbyists concocted images of “wild west” ghost towns where arguments were settled at high noon on a public street owing to apparent expectations that every adult legally able to defend themselves would be sporting the latest from Glock or Smith & Wesson if plaintiffs in the suit prevailed.
On Saturday afternoon we asked a few residents in rural St Johns County near Hastings if they knew about the ruling by the First District Court of Appeal. “The majority had heard that it was no longer a crime in Florida to openly carry a firearm,” according to our reporter. “No one expressed an interest in openly carrying a pistol or revolver unless they were going hunting or fishing.” That exception already existed.
Within hours of the McDaniels decision on September 10, 2025, state Attorney General James Uthmeier declared it a win for the Second Amendment. Multiple sheriffs, including in Clay and Putnam County, announced they would stop enforcing the state law immediately. One ultra-visible local law enforcement official held out until after September 15th when Uthmeier declared that his office would no longer prosecute such cases. Openly carrying a firearm in public in the Sunshine State technically became legal on September 25th.
“Nothing in the McDaniels decision permits individuals to menace others with firearms in public, nor does it undermine the State’s authority to prohibit felons from possessing firearms,” Uthmeier wrote to all Florida law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement agencies will continue to arrest and prosecute those who publicly exhibit firearms in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner.
Last weekend we checked public venues where open carry of a firearm is now legal. Our team of reporters checked for three hours between noon and 3:00 p.m., in Fruit Cove, Palm Valley, Crescent Beach and Hastings. Although some citizens likely carried a concealed weapon, we did not find a single person openly carrying a firearm. Not one.
According to the former Florida law, openly carrying a firearm was a second-degree misdemeanor subject to imposition of a $500.00 fine or a maximum of 60 days in jail. You still must be a Florida resident, 21-years-old or older (unless you are a law enforcement or corrections officer or are in military service) and there are still restrictions for convicted felons, “violent career criminals”, or people who have restraining orders from committing acts of domestic violence. Private property owners can prohibit firearms on their home or business property. A violation is considered “armed trespass”, a third-degree felony, Uthmeier said.