possession and carrying of firearms.

Compiled by:

QUICK REFERENCE CHART

Rifles and

Shotguns Handguns

Permit to Purchase No No

Registration of Firearms No No

Licensing of Owners No No

Permit to Carry No Yes

STATE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION

“(a) The right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves And of the lawful authority of the state shall not be infringed, except that the manner of bearing arms may be regulated by law.

(b) There shall be

a mandatory period of three days, excluding weekends and legal holidays,

between the purchase and delivery at retail of any handgun. For the purposes

of this section, “purchase” means the transfer of money or other valuable

consideration to the retailer, and “handgun” means a firearm capable of

being carried and used by one hand, such as a pistol or revolver. Holders of

a concealed weapon permit as prescribed in Florida law shall not be subject

to the provisions of this paragraph. (c) . . . anyone violating the provisions of

subsection (b) shall be guilty of a felony. (d) This restriction shall not apply

to a trade in of another handgun.” Article 1, Section 8.

The legislature of the State of Florida, in a declaration of policy

incorporated in its “Weapons and Firearms” statute, recognizes that adult

citizens of the state retain their constitutional right to keep and bear firearms

for hunting and sporting activities and for defense of self, family, home, and

business and as collectibles.

PURCHASE AND POSSESSION

No state permit is required to possess or purchase a rifle, shotgun or

handgun.

It is unlawful for any convicted felon to have in his or her care, custody,

control, or possession any firearm or to carry a concealed weapon unless his

civil rights have been restored.

It is unlawful for the following persons to own, possess or use any

firearm: drug addicts, alcoholics, mental incompetents, and vagrants.

A person may not have in his or her care, custody, possession, or control

any firearm or ammunition if the person has been issued a final injunction

that is currently in force and effect, restraining that person from committing

acts of domestic violence.

It is unlawful to sell, give, barter, lend or transfer a firearm or other

weapon other than an ordinary pocketknife to a minor less than the age of

18 without his parent’s permission, or to any person of unsound mind.

It is unlawful for any dealer to sell or transfer any firearm, pistol,

Springfield rifle or other repeating rifle to a minor.

A minor less than 18 years of age may not possess a firearm, other than

an unloaded firearm at his home, unless engaged in lawful activities.

No licensed gun dealer, manufacturer or importer shall sell or deliver

any firearm to another person until he has obtained a completed form from

the potential buyer or transferee and received approval from the Department

of Law Enforcement by means of a toll-free telephone call. The Department

of Law Enforcement shall destroy records of approval and non-approval

within 48 hours after its response. The fee for the instant check shall be

$8.00. Exempt from the instant check are licensed dealers, manufacturers,

importers, collectors, persons with a concealed carrying license, law

enforcement, correctional and correctional probation officers.

Excluding weekends and legal holidays, there is a three-day waiting

period to purchase a handgun from a retail establishment. Exempt from the

waiting period are concealed weapons permit holders and those trading in

another handgun.

CARRYING

Unless covered under the exceptions, it is unlawful to openly carry on

or about the person any firearm, or to carry a concealed firearm on or about

the person without a license.

Exceptions:

1. Persons having firearms at their home or place of business.

2. Enrolled members of clubs organized for target, skeet, or trapshooting,

while at, or going to or from shooting practice.

3. Members of clubs organized for collecting antique or modern firearms

while at or going to or from exhibitions.

4. Persons engaged in fishing, camping or hunting and while going to or

from such activity.

5. Persons engaged in target shooting under safe conditions and in a safe

place or while going to or from such place.

6. Persons who are firing weapons for target practice in a safe and secure

indoor range.

7. Persons traveling by private conveyance if the weapon is securely

encased, or in a public conveyance if the weapon is securely encased and not

in the person’s manual possession.

8. Persons carrying a pistol unloaded and in a secure wrapper from place

of purchase to their home or to a place of repair and back.

9. Persons engaged in the business of manufacturing, repairing or dealing

in firearms.

10. Military, law enforcement personnel and private guards while so

employed.

It is lawful to possess a concealed firearm for self-defense or other lawful

purposes within the interior of a private conveyance, without a license,

if the firearm is securely encased or is otherwise not readily accessible for

immediate use. A firearm other than a handgun may be carried anywhere

in a private conveyance when such firearm is being carried for a lawful use.

This exemption does not authorize the carrying of a firearm concealed on

the person. Employers may not prohibit their employees who are properly

licensed under Florida law to carry a handgun, from storing any legally

owned firearm inside a locked, privately-owned motor vehicle that is lawfully

present in a parking lot maintained by the employer.

An application for a license to carry a handgun concealed is made to the

Department of Agriculture. The license is valid for seven years and is honored

throughout the state. The application shall be completed, under oath, on a

form promulgated by the Department of Agriculture and shall include the

applicant’s name, address, place and date of birth, race, and occupation.

The initial license fee is not to exceed $85 plus the cost of processing the

fingerprint card. The renewal fee is not to exceed $70 (fingerprint card is not

required on renewal licenses). However, at the discretion of the Department

of Agriculture, the fees may be lower than the statutory cap.

Fingerprinting must be conducted by a law enforcement agency of the

state. The sheriff ’s office shall provide fingerprinting service to the applicant

and may charge a fee not to exceed $5.

The Department of Agriculture shall issue a license if the applicant:

(a) is at least 21 and a resident of the United States;

(b) does not suffer from a physical infirmity which prevents the safe handling

of a firearm;

(c) is not a convicted felon;

(d) has not within a three-year period preceding submission of the application

been convicted of a crime of violence or committed for drug abuse or been

convicted of a minor drug offense;

(e) has not been adjudicated guilty even with a suspended sentence for a

felony or misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, unless three years has

elapsed since probation or the record is sealed or expunged;

(f )is not currently under any injunction restraining the applicant from acts of

domestic violence or repeated acts of violence;

(g) has not been adjudicated an incapacitated person, unless he has waited

five years from the date of his court-ordered restoration to capacity, or

been committed to a mental institution, unless he possesses a psychiatrist’s

certificate that he has not suffered from the disability for five years;

(h) is not a chronic or habitual drunkard;

(i) demonstrates competence with a firearm by a variety of means; and

(j) states that he desires a legal means to carry a concealed weapon or firearmfor lawful self-defense.

A license shall not authorize any person to carry a concealed weapon

or firearm into any place of nuisance, police station, detention facility,

courthouse, polling place, meeting of any state, county, municipal, or special

district governing body, any school, any professional or school athletic event

not related to firearms, portion of an establishment licensed to dispense

alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, inside the sterile and

passenger area of an airport, or any place where the carrying of firearms is

prohibited by federal law.

The Department of Agriculture must be notified within 30 days of

changing a permanent address, destruction or losing a license. A duplicate

license costs $15.00. A person must carry his license together with valid

identification, such as a driver’s license.

The licensing law shall be liberally construed to carry out the

Constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense.

A resident of the United States who is a nonresident of Florida, may

carry a concealed weapon or concealed firearm while in this state if that

person is 21 years of age or older, has in his or her immediate possession

a valid license to carry a concealed weapon or firearm issued by the state

of their residence, and abides by the Florida laws on carrying a concealed

weapon or firearm.

ANTIQUES AND REPLICAS

Unless used in the commission of a crime, the term firearm shall not

include an antique firearm. An antique firearm is any firearm manufactured

in or before 1918 (including any matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or

similar early type of ignition system) or replicas thereof, whether actually

manufactured before or after the year 1918, and also any firearm using fixed

ammunition manufactured in or before 1918, for which ammunition is no

longer manufactured in the United States and is not readily available in the

ordinary channels of commercial trade.

MACHINE GUNS

The possession of a machine gun, defined as any firearm which shoots,

or is designed to shoot, automatically, more than one shot without manually

reloading, by a single function of the trigger, is prohibited unless lawfully

owned and possessed under provisions of federal law.

MISCELLANEOUS

Under Florida law, there is no “duty to retreat” if you are attacked in any

place you have a lawful right to be. Instead, you may stand your ground and

meet force with force, including deadly force, if you reasonably believe it is

necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to yourself or others.

Use of a firearm, BB gun, air or gas-operated guns, or electric weapons

or devices by a minor under the age of 16 is prohibited unless the minor is

under the supervision and in the presence of an adult who is acting with the

consent of the minor’s parent.

Florida has mandatory sentence enhancements for any serious felony,

such as murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary or robbery, committed

with a firearm. The penalty is increased if a machine gun or a semiautomatic

firearm with magazine capacity of more than 20 centerfire cartridges is

possessed during a serious felony or narcotics offense.

It is unlawful to knowingly discharge a firearm in any public place,

or on the right of way of any paved public road, highway or street or over

any road, highway, street or occupied building, except in defense of life or

property, in performance of official duties or where expressly approved for

hunting.

Except during the hunting season as established by law, it is unlawful to

carry a firearm within the limits of a national forest area. Exempt are persons

who have obtained a special permit by the county commissioners or persons

traveling on state roads when the firearm is securely locked within a vehicle.

It is unlawful to have or carry a firearm in the presence of one or more

persons and exhibit the firearm in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening

manners, except in cases of self-defense.

The state legislature has preempted the regulation of firearms and

ammunition. No political subdivision of the state may bring legal action

against a firearms or ammunition manufacturer or distributor for the legal

manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of firearms and ammunition.

Owners, operators, and users of sport shooting ranges have limited

liability for the accumulation of any projectiles on their range.

It is unlawful to sell, deliver, or use to assist in the commission of a

crime any bullet, which has a steel inner core, or core of equivalent hardness

and truncated cone and which is designed for use in a handgun as an armorpiercing bullet.

It is unlawful to store or leave a firearm in any place within reach or easy

access of a person less than 18 years of age. This provision does not apply

to:

1. A firearm stored in a securely locked box or container, or in a location

which a reasonable person would have believed to be secure, or securely

locked with a trigger lock;

2. A minor who obtains a firearm by means of unlawful entry by any

person;

3. Minors engaged in a lawful marksmanship competition or practice or

other lawful recreational shooting activity;

4. Any person carrying the firearm on his or her body or within such close

proximity thereto that he or she can retrieve and use it as easily and quickly

as if he or she carried it on his or her body.

Whoever, through culpable negligence, stores or leaves a loaded firearm

within the reach or easy access of a minor less than 16 years of age commits

a felony of the third degree, if the minor obtains the firearm and uses it to

inflict injury or death upon himself or herself or any other person. This

subsection does not apply:

1. If the firearm was stored or left in a securely locked box or container or in

a location which a reasonable person would have believed to be secure, or was

securely locked with a trigger lock;

2. If the minor obtains the firearm as a result of an unlawful entry by any

person;

3. To injuries resulting from target or sport shooting accidents or hunting

accidents; or

4. To members of the Armed Forces, National Guard, or State Militia, or to

police or other law enforcement officers, with respect to firearm possession

by a minor which occurs during or incidental to the performance of their

official duties.

Source: FLA. STAT. ANN. §§ 784.05; 790.001; 790.01; 790.15; 790.53;

790.06; 790.065; 790.655; 790.07; 790.10; 790.11; 790.15; 790.16;

790.17; 790.174; 790.175