Florida’s New Open Carry Landscape: What Business Owners Need to Know About Customers, Employees, and Their Right to Set the Rules

The legality of firearms possession in Florida continues to evolve, with an important change as of September 25, 2025. After the First District Court of Appeal struck down the state’s decades-old Open Carry ban in McDaniels v. State on September 10, 2025, declaring § 790.053, Fla. Stat., unconstitutional, Florida’s attorney general instructed prosecutors and law enforcement not to enforce the ban, making Open Carry the new “law of the state.” In plain English: adults who can lawfully possess a firearm may now carry it openly in most public places, subject to important limits. 

The McDaniels decision held the Open Carry ban unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s framework from New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which requires that firearm regulations align with the “Nation’s historical tradition” that presumptively protects conduct related to firearms – rather than balancing the government’s interests in regulation. Florida’s attorney general directed statewide non-enforcement and said the decision binds trial courts, which indicates we can expect legislative follow-through. Open Carry is currently lawful for eligible adults, but it is not absolute. 

Permitless Concealed Carry Remains in Effect

Since July 1, 2023, qualifying individuals have been able to carry concealed weapons without a license (also called “constitutional carry”), pursuant to HB 543, Ch. 2023-18, Laws of Fla. That law did not legalize carry everywhere; a long list of restricted locations still applies for both Concealed and Open Carry, including, for example, in areas of restaurants primarily devoted to alcohol service. 

Customers and Visitors: Your Right to Say “No Firearms Inside”

Law enforcement and local agencies have publicly clarified that private property owners can still prohibit firearms on their premises, and refusals to leave can lead to trespass charges, including armed trespass (a third-degree felony). Stated differently, Florida’s new Open Carry reality does not override a private employer’s right to prohibit firearms on their own private property. Private business owners maintain the right to ban firearms (open or concealed) on their property, including in company-owned or leased vehicles and equipment. 

However, Florida’s “Bring Your Guns to Work” statute imposes some exceptions to this right. Principally, employers may not prohibit employees and invitees from possessing legally owned firearms that are locked inside or locked to a private vehicle in a parking lot when the employee or invitee is lawfully in the area. Relatedly, employers may not:

• Inquire about the presence of a firearm in the employee’s or invitee’s vehicle;
• Search a private vehicle in a parking lot to determine whether it contains a firearm;
• Take any action against an employee or invitee based on any verbal or written statement regarding the possession of a firearm in a private vehicle for lawful purposes;
• Condition employment on the fact that an employee or prospective employee holds or does not hold a concealed-weapons permit;
• Condition employment on an agreement by the employee or prospective employee that forbids the employee from keeping a legal firearm locked in their vehicle when the firearm is kept for lawful purposes;
• Prohibit or attempt to prevent any employee or invitee from entering the parking lot of the employer’s place of business because the employee or invitee’s vehicle contains a legal firearm that is out of sight and is being carried for lawful purposes; or
• Terminate or otherwise discriminate against an employee, or expel an invitee, for exercising the right to keep and bear arms or for exercising the right to self-defense so long as the firearm is not exhibited on company property for any reason other than lawful defensive purposes.

In order to properly effect notice of a firearms prohibition on their private property, employers should consider doing the following:

• Post clear, conspicuous signage at every public entrance stating, “No Firearms Allowed” or something similar.
• Enact employment policies delineating the purpose and scope of the prohibition, as well as consequences for violating it.
• Train staff to politely inform an armed employee or visitor of any applicable weapons policy and request compliance or departure.
• If the person refuses, treat it as a trespass and contact law enforcement. 

Restaurant and bar nuance: For restaurants and bars, firearms are generally prohibited in areas primarily devoted to serving alcohol. In open floor plans, where bar seating and dining areas flow together without clear physical separation, this can create ambiguity. Management should define the boundaries of the “bar area” using signage, staff training, and visual cues like floor maps. Hosts and bar staff should know how to politely redirect armed patrons and when to escalate issues to management or law enforcement. 

Sensitive place rules are unchanged

Even after the Open Carry ruling, restrictions on firearms in courthouses, police stations, polling places, school property, and similar sites remain. The attorney general underscored that nothing in the decision authorizes menacing displays — defined under Fla. Stat. § 790.10 as exhibiting a firearm in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner — or possession by prohibited persons, such as convicted felons, those under domestic violence injunctions, or individuals adjudicated mentally ill. 

Final Thoughts

While Florida’s new Open Carry law fundamentally expands the ability to carry a firearm in Florida, the law does not impact a private employer’s right to ban weapons and enact policies, signage, or other mechanisms to effect such a ban on their own private property, particularly in furtherance of an employer’s commitment to workplace safety.