Florida Gun Laws: Complete Guide

Private Firearm Sales in Florida

• Federal law does not require an FFL or background check for an occasional transfer between unlicensed residents of the same state. Florida does not add a universal private-transfer check, although sales by a person engaged in the business require licensing and dealer compliance. [14][2]
• A seller may not transfer a firearm when the seller knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the recipient is prohibited under federal or Florida law. Florida also restricts knowing transfers to minors under 18, subject to parental-permission and activity exceptions. [2][15]
• Transfers to residents of another state generally must go through an FFL. A handgun ordinarily goes to an FFL in the recipient's state, while a qualifying long-gun dealer transfer must comply with both states' laws. [14]
• Florida does not generally require a bill of sale for an occasional same-state private transfer. A written record can document identity, residency, age, firearm, date, and eligibility representations but does not cure an unlawful transfer. [14][2]

Important notice: Use an FFL whenever residency, eligibility, age, repeated-sales status, or the legality of a direct transfer is uncertain. [14][8]

Buying a Firearm in Florida

• A licensed dealer contacts the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for the required records check before transferring a firearm. Florida does not require a separate purchase permit or owner license. [8][2]
• Florida generally prohibits a licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer from selling or transferring a firearm to a person under 21, with exceptions for specified law-enforcement, correctional, and military personnel. Federal law separately sets dealer and private-transfer minimums. [2][15]
• Retail delivery must generally wait until three days have elapsed, excluding weekends and legal holidays, or until the records check is complete, whichever occurs later. Concealed-weapon license holders, qualifying trade-ins, and specified hunter-safety long-gun purchasers are exempt. [3]
• The Florida Constitution allows counties to require a three-to-five-day criminal-history records check and waiting period for firearm sales occurring within county boundaries where the public has a right of access, with listed exceptions. [7][6]
• Florida generally prohibits agencies from creating a list, record, or registry of lawfully owned firearms or firearm owners, while preserving transaction, criminal-investigation, seized-firearm, licensing, and other specified records. [2]

Firearm Ownership and Prohibited Persons

• Florida does not require a general owner license or registration for ordinary firearms. State and federal law nevertheless prohibit possession by multiple categories, including many people convicted of felonies, people subject to qualifying injunctions or risk protection orders, and people with specified mental-health adjudications. [2][5]
• Florida provides specific restoration procedures for some civil rights, but state restoration does not necessarily remove a federal disability. A sealed, expunged, pardoned, or out-of-state case requires individualized analysis. [2]
• A carry license, permitless-carry eligibility, or lawful private purchase does not override a possession prohibition. Resolve any criminal, domestic-violence, injunction, or mental-health question before handling a firearm or ammunition. [2][1][5]

Carrying a Firearm in Florida

• Florida allows a person who satisfies the statutory concealed-weapon-license eligibility criteria to carry a concealed weapon or concealed firearm without a license. The carrier must have valid identification and display it to law enforcement on demand. [2][1]
• FDACS continues to issue optional concealed weapon or firearm licenses. A license supports carry in recognizing states, can document eligibility, and exempts its holder from Florida's mandatory retail waiting period. [1][3]
• In McDaniels v. State, Florida's First District Court of Appeal held the general open-carry ban unconstitutional. The Attorney General announced that the state would not appeal and instructed prosecutors and law enforcement that lawful open carry cannot be treated as a crime under the invalidated ban. [4]
• The printed text of Section 790.053 still contains the former open-carry prohibition, and open carry remains subject to all prohibited-place, prohibited-person, conduct, age, and private-property rules. Threatening exhibition or use is not protected. [4][2]
• FDACS now accepts concealed-license applications from otherwise eligible applicants age 18 or older following the 2026 Eubanks decision and the Attorney General's decision not to seek further review. Carry-age litigation should be rechecked before relying on it. [1]

Self-Defense and the Castle Doctrine in Florida

• The Florida Constitution, Article I, Section 8(a), protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and of the lawful authority of the state, while allowing the Legislature to regulate the manner of bearing arms. [9]
• Section 776.012 generally justifies using force, and deadly force, when a person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm, or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who is not engaged in criminal activity and is in a place where they have a right to be has no duty to retreat before standing their ground. [10]
• Section 776.013 adds a presumption of reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm when someone uses defensive force against a person who is in the process of unlawfully and forcibly entering, or has unlawfully and forcibly entered, an occupied dwelling, residence, or vehicle. The presumption generally does not apply against a lawful resident or someone with a right to be in that dwelling, residence, or vehicle absent an injunction or similar order against them. [11]
• Section 776.031 separately addresses force in defense of property: nondeadly force can be justified to stop a trespass or interference with property, while deadly force is justified only to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony, subject to the same stand-your-ground conditions. [12]

Important notice: Section 776.032 grants immunity from both criminal prosecution and civil action for justified use of force, and a court that finds a defendant immune must award reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, lost income, and other expenses. That immunity does not apply against a law-enforcement officer who was acting in an official capacity and had properly identified themselves, and the Florida Supreme Court has held that a criminal-court immunity ruling does not automatically bind a later civil case. Every self-defense situation is fact-specific and high-stakes — get individualized legal advice before relying on any of this content in an actual confrontation. [13]

Transporting Firearms in Florida

• An eligible person may generally carry a concealed handgun on or about the person in a vehicle under Florida's permitless-carry law. A license remains useful for reciprocity and the retail waiting-period exemption. [2][1]
• Florida separately permits an eligible person to possess a firearm in a private conveyance without a carry license when it is securely encased or otherwise not readily accessible for immediate use. A glove compartment, snapped holster, gun case, or closed box can qualify under the statutory definitions. [2]
• School property, airports, detention facilities, posted private property, and other restricted destinations can change the result even when vehicle possession is otherwise lawful. Federal property has separate rules. [2]
• For interstate travel, 18 U.S.C. 926A protects qualifying unloaded and inaccessible transport between lawful origins and destinations. Verify every state and planned stop before crossing state lines. [17]

Restricted Firearms and Accessories

• Florida has no general statewide magazine-capacity limit or assault-weapon ban. Restrictions based on the possessor, age, location, criminal use, firearm discharge, and federal law still apply. [2][6]
• Florida prohibits possession of a short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun, or machine gun unless it is lawfully owned and possessed under federal law. Suppressors and other NFA firearms require the applicable federal registration and transfer approval. [2][16]
• Federal law generally limits civilian machine-gun possession to qualifying machine guns lawfully possessed before May 19, 1986, plus government and dealer exceptions. Florida compliance does not replace federal approval. [16][2]
• Florida's risk protection order law permits a law-enforcement officer or agency to seek a temporary ex parte or final order. A final order can prohibit firearm and ammunition purchase, possession, receipt, or control for up to 12 months, subject to extension procedures. [5]

Safe Storage, Minors, and Lost Firearms

• A person who stores or leaves a loaded firearm and knows or reasonably should know that a minor under 16 is likely to gain unauthorized access must use a securely locked box or container, a reasonably secure location, or a trigger lock, unless the firearm is carried or readily retrievable as if carried. [2]
• Criminal liability can apply when the storage rule is violated and a minor gains access and possesses or exhibits the firearm in public or in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner. The statute includes an unlawful-entry exception. [2]
• The reviewed statewide statutes do not set a general deadline for an ordinary owner to report a lost or stolen firearm. Prompt reporting to local law enforcement can document the loss, support recovery, and reduce misuse risk; federal licensees have separate duties. [2][6]

Where Firearms May Be Restricted

• Florida's carry authorization does not extend to police, sheriff, and highway-patrol stations; detention facilities; courthouses and courtrooms; polling places; governing-body meetings; legislative sessions and committee meetings; or secured airport passenger terminals and sterile areas. [2]
• Restrictions also cover school, college, and professional athletic events not related to firearms; elementary and secondary school facilities and administration buildings; career centers; and the portion of an establishment primarily devoted to dispensing alcohol for on-premises consumption. [2]
• College and university facilities are generally restricted, with statutory exceptions including specified securely encased vehicle possession and certain nonlethal electric defensive devices. School-zone and campus rules are detailed and should be checked before entry. [2]
• Private owners may control their property, and federal facilities have independent restrictions. Open carry, permitless carry, or a Florida license does not override another applicable prohibition. [2][4]

Local Firearm Laws and State Preemption

• Florida broadly occupies the field of firearm and ammunition purchase, sale, transfer, taxation, manufacture, ownership, possession, storage, and transportation, displacing conflicting county and municipal regulation unless general law expressly authorizes it. [6]
• Express exceptions include zoning rules that treat firearm businesses like other businesses, limited local discharge ordinances, and county waiting-period and records-check ordinances authorized by the Florida Constitution. [6][7]
• Local governments may regulate their own employees and facilities within statutory limits. Check the exact county waiting period and property rule even though substantive firearm regulation is generally preempted. [6][7]

Before Completing a Private Firearm Sale in Florida

• Confirm that both parties are Florida residents before treating the transaction as an in-state private sale. [14]
• Verify identity and age, and do not transfer if you know or have reasonable cause to believe the recipient is prohibited. [2][15]
• Use an FFL for an interstate transfer and whenever residency, eligibility, repeated-sales status, or legal requirements are uncertain. [14][8]
• For a retail purchase, account for the state waiting period, records-check completion, any county rule, and the available statutory exemptions. [3][7]
• Confirm federal registration and Florida eligibility before transferring a suppressor, short-barreled firearm, machine gun, or other NFA item. [2][16]
• Consider a bill of sale documenting the parties, residency, firearm, date, price, and eligibility representations. [14][2]

Official Florida Firearm Law Resources

Florida Gun Law FAQ

Sources

1. 1. Florida Concealed Weapon LicenseFlorida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. State agency. Accessed August 7, 2026.
2. 2. Florida Statutes Chapter 790, Weapons and FirearmsFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 7, 2026.
3. 3. Florida Statutes Section 790.0655, Mandatory Waiting PeriodFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 7, 2026.
4. 4. Attorney General Guidance on Open Carry After McDanielsFlorida Office of the Attorney General. State agency. Accessed August 7, 2026.
5. 5. Florida Statutes Section 790.401, Risk Protection OrdersFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 7, 2026.
6. 6. Florida Statutes Section 790.33, Firearm PreemptionFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 7, 2026.
7. 7. Florida Constitution Article VIII, Section 5(b), Firearm PurchasesFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 7, 2026.
8. 8. Firearm Purchase ProgramFlorida Department of Law Enforcement. State agency. Accessed August 9, 2026.
9. 9. Florida Constitution Article I, Section 8, Right to Bear ArmsFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 9, 2026.
10. 10. Florida Statutes Section 776.012, Use of Force in Defense of PersonFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 9, 2026.
11. 11. Florida Statutes Section 776.013, Home Protection; Use of Deadly Force; Presumption of FearFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 9, 2026.
12. 12. Florida Statutes Section 776.031, Use of Force in Defense of PropertyFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 9, 2026.
13. 13. Florida Statutes Section 776.032, Immunity From Criminal Prosecution and Civil Action for Justifiable Use of ForceFlorida Legislature. State statute. Accessed August 9, 2026.
14. 14. Firearms Questions and Answers: Unlicensed PersonsBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal agency. Accessed August 7, 2026.
15. 15. Minimum Age for Gun Sales and TransfersBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal agency. Accessed August 7, 2026.
16. 16. National Firearms ActBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal agency. Accessed August 7, 2026.
17. 17. 18 U.S.C. 926A, Interstate Transportation of FirearmsOffice of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal statute. Accessed August 7, 2026.