Q&A of the Day – The Impact of Open Carrying of Firearms in Florida
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
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Today’s entry: Hi Brian, I'd be interested in hearing from Ric Bradshaw or any other Florida LEO what it has been like since Open Carry has become the law.
Personally, I've had conversations with LEOs expressing strawman arguments. I politely acknowledged their concern and let them know that 25 other states have open carry. In these open carry states, their concerns have never been realized.
Bottom Line: Following a recent state court ruling striking down Florida’s ban on the open carrying of firearms, the open carrying of firearms officially took effect on September 25th. In answer to your question regarding the monitored impact in the early going according to law enforcement. As of today, there hasn’t been an arrest/citation for an open carry violation. What is important to note are the 15 places where it is still prohibited to open carry. They include:
- Any place of nuisance as defined in s. 823.05
- Any police, sheriff, or highway patrol station
- Any detention facility, prison or jail
- Any courthouse
- Any courtroom, except that nothing in this section precludes a judge from carrying a concealed weapon or concealed firearm or determining who will carry a concealed weapon or concealed firearm in his or her courtroom
- Any polling place
- Any meeting of the governing body of a county, public school district, municipality, or special district
- Any meeting of the Legislature or a committee thereof
- Any school, college, or professional athletic event not related to firearms
- Any elementary or secondary school facility or administration building
- Any career center
- Any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, which portion of the establishment is primarily devoted to such purpose;
- Any college or university facility unless the licensee is a registered student, employee, or faculty member of such college or university and the weapon is a stun gun or nonlethal electric weapon or device designed solely for defensive purposes and the weapon does not fire a dart or projectile
- The inside of the passenger terminal and sterile area of any airport, provided that no person shall be prohibited from carrying any legal firearm into the terminal, which firearm is encased for shipment for purposes of checking such firearm as baggage to be lawfully transported on any aircraft
- Any place where the carrying of firearms is prohibited by federal law
As for the overall impact of open carry policies... Preceding Florida’s recent legalization there were 31 states that allowed open carry without a permit (some sources will suggest it’s 29 due to the level of restrictions)... so in other words most of the country already allowed for it. The figure even includes several traditional blue states like Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington.
Permitless carry states (often including open carry) have lower average violent crime rates:
- 354 per 100,000 vs. the national 391 per 100,000 in 2024
Of 29 such states in 2025, over half saw crime drops post-enactment, with 60% of pre-2023 adopters below the national average. States restricting open carry (e.g., California at 508 per 100,000, Washington, D.C. at 1,151) often have higher rates
Generally speaking, relaxing firearm restrictions has resulted in less crime. Preceding Florida’s legal changes sixteen states loosened firearms restrictions over the prior five years. Of them:
- Ten of the sixteen states saw a decline in violent crime, five were about flat, one (Alaska had a measurable increase)
- Homicide Rates in states offering at least at least permitless carrying of firearms are 7% lower than restrictive states
This proved true in Florida too during the first year of Florida’s permitless carry law as Florida experienced a 6.7% decrease in violent crime and an 18.5% decrease in property crime. As always there are two sides to stories and one side to facts. What’s worth watching from here is whether the Florida legislature codifies the legal changes ordered by the court into law in next year’s state legislative session.