Laws for Owning a Firearm in Florida

Florida offers permits for many types of gun owners.

The state of Florida had more than 873,000 firearms permits on the books as of March 2010. The vast majority of those fall under type "W": the Concealed Weapons Permit used by non-law-enforcement Floridians. The state offers many types of firearms licenses for various types of users. Typically, a resident will get the class "W" license, desiring a handgun or other permitted weapon for personal protection. As of June 11, 2008, these licenses remained valid for seven years.

Posession

Concealed-weapons licenses in Florida apply to handguns, stun guns, teargas weapons, knives and billy clubs. The license does not, however, give residents permission to possess their weapons everywhere. State law prohibits using permitted weapons in a variety of places, including many government buildings, schools and federally controlled facilities such as airports.

Use

You also cannot legally use weapons in any situation your desire. Florida law puts a responsibility on weapons carriers to retreat from threatening situations whenever possible. The law allows deadly force in trying to protect yourself or another person from death or serious bodily harm, or in preventing a forcible felony, such as rape, robbery, burglary or kidnapping.

Verbal threats do not constitute a sufficient reason to justify deadly force under Florida law. Also, threatening someone with a gun can get even a licensed gun owner into trouble. The law considers even an unloaded gun a deadly weapon, and offenders face three years in prison for making verbal threats while possessing a handgun.

Castle Doctrine

The courts have long acknowledged an exception to the legal requirement that residents try to retreat from physical threats in situations occurring on their property. This "castle doctrine" applies to people who, for example, are threatened inside their homes or businesses. One may also use deadly force inside one's vehicle: for example, during a carjacking. In 2005, the Florida Legislature passed a law expanding this doctrine to include defending oneself or someone else "in any other place where he or she has a right to be." This provision, sometimes called the "stand your ground" rule, gives licensed gun owners the right not to retreat in public places when defending themselves. It also provides legal justification for using deadly force to "prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony."

Defending Others

Florida law allows you to use a concealed weapon to defend someone else. The key: put yourself in that person's shoes. If the same thing happened to you, could you reasonably use deadly force in that instance? If so, then your permit allows you to intervene. However, don't confuse this with being a vigilante or a freelance police officer. Preventing an imminent, forcible felony is very different from shooting an offender who's running away, which is not allowed under Florida law. Using deadly force after a crime is over, or after a crime has been prevented, can lead to at least a manslaughter conviction.

Other States

Florida has reciprocity agreements with 34 other states, allowing Floridians to have concealed-carry rights in those states. Florida license holders must obey the firearms laws of the state in which they are traveling. Some states grant reciprocity only to legal residents of Florida rather than, for example, winter vacationers who have a Florida concealed weapons license.

Florida's reciprocity rules require out-of-state visitors to be legal residents of the state that granted them the permit. When people are traveling through several states, either to or from Florida, federal law requires that their weapons be completely unloaded and stored in an inaccessible place, preferably the trunk.

References

• Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Licensing: Concealed Carry Reciprocity
• Florida Division of Licensing: Possession Restrictions
• Florida Division of Licensing: Number of Licenses By Type
• Online Sunshine: The 2009 Florida Statutes Chapter 776 - Justifiable Use of Force

Resources

• Florida Division of Licensing: Eligibility