FIRST ON FOX: Gun rights activists are taking up the fight to strike down Florida's ban on openly carrying firearms after the Republican-controlled legislature rejected an repeal effort.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) is filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida that seeks to have the 1893 gun restriction declared unconstitutional and a court order to block enforcement of the law. The challenged statute makes it "unlawful for any person to openly carry on or about his or her person any firearm or electric weapon or device."

"Despite its reputation as a largely gun-friendly state, Florida inexplicably continues to prohibit the peaceable carrying of firearms in an open and unconcealed manner," the complaint obtained by Fox News Digital states.

"This blatant infringement of the Second Amendment right to ‘bear arms’ runs counter to this nation’s historical tradition and would have criminalized the very colonists who openly carried their muskets and mustered on the greens at Lexington and Concord to fight for their independence."

The arguments advanced by Gun Owners of America assert Florida's open carry ban is outside the history and tradition of firearms regulation in the U.S. – a direct appeal to the Supreme Court's landmark decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (2022). The high court held that the ability to carry firearms in public is a constitutional right and that any restrictions must fit within the nation's "historical tradition of firearm regulation."

Gun Owners of America points out the Florida open carry ban was adopted decades after Reconstruction and more than a century after the Second Amendment was ratified. "To make matters worse, that 1893 carry ban openly targeted only a disfavored subset of the population – newly freed Blacks – while Whites enjoyed de facto immunity from enforcement," the complaint asserts.

Plaintiffs also say Florida is both a historical outlier and presently one of only a few states that entirely bans the open carry of firearms. The others are blue states California, Illinois and New York, along with the District of Columbia. "In contrast, the vast majority of states permit the open carry of all manner of firearms (both handguns and long guns), by any law-abiding adult and without any sort of permit at all," the complaint states.

"Plaintiffs seek preliminary followed by permanent injunctive relief, as well as declaratory and other relief, to rectify Florida’s infringement of an enumerated right that ‘shall not be infringed.’"

The lawsuit comes after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a GOP-backed bill last year that eliminated a requirement for state residents to obtain a permit to carry concealed firearms. The law allows eligible citizens 21 years of age and up to carry without asking the government for a permit and without paying a fee. The legislation did not change who is eligible to obtain a carry permit, and those who still wish to get a permit may do so under the law.

A DeSantis administration official told Fox News Digital the governor supported efforts to include repealing the open carry ban in that legislation, but state lawmakers would not come around. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Republican from Naples, said at the time she does not support open carry because the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) and other law enforcement groups opposed the effort, according to the Florida Phoenix.

Florida Democrats and anti-gun activists were also against the constitutional carry law, warning that easing access to concealed carry would lead to more violence. Anti-gun group Everytown for Gun Safety calls open carry a "dangerous policy" that is supported by hate groups and claims it is "exploited by White supremacists and opposed by law enforcement and the public."

Though Second Amendment supporters backed the Florida constitutional carry law, some, like GOA, said it did not go far enough because the reform doesn't apply to open carry.

"Florida lawmakers claim to be pro-gun, but year after year, they’ve refused to repeal the 1987 ban on open carry, leaving Floridians in the very anti-gun company of New York, Illinois, and California where this is also prohibited," said Erich Pratt, GOA's senior vice president.

"GOA has been left with no choice but to sue the state, especially since GOA’s open carry bill was blocked by Republican legislative leadership during the 2024 session's first week.

"This ban has no historical basis and will surely be found unconstitutional under the Bruen precedent. We look forward to making our case and fighting for law-abiding Floridians."

St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson, State Attorney Thomas Bakkedahl and the State Attorney's Office for the 19th Judicial Circuit of Florida are named as defendants in the complaint.

Fox News Digital's Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.

Although Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has voiced support allowing for the open carrying of firearms in Florida, he hasn’t done much to persuade the GOP-led Legislature to actually pass such legislation.

Now two Second Amendment groups say they’re tired of waiting for the state to act and have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging Florida’s ban on open carry.

The Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation, and Palm Beach County resident Richard Hughes filed a 40-page lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday, alleging that the ban on open carry of firearms violates the Second and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

During the 2023 legislative session, the Florida GOP-controlled Legislature passed a law allowing residents to legally carry concealed weapons without having to obtain a permit through the state, a measure known by supporters as “constitutional carry” and by everyone else as permitless carry.

But several prominent gun rights advocates were outspoken during the legislative committee process last year that the state wasn’t going far enough, and that it needed pass an “open carry” provision as well. Although the state has a national reputation as one of the strongest advocates for Second Amendment rights, only three other states — California, Illinois, and New York, along with the District of Columbia — ban the open carry of firearms.

During the 2024 legislative session held earlier this year, Hillsborough County Republican Mike Beltran filed legislation to allow open carry, as well as allowing lawmakers to carry concealed guns to legislative meetings and in the state Capitol building.

But neither House Speaker Paul Renner or Senate President Kathleen Passidomo showed any enthusiasm for the bill, and it died without a committee hearing. DeSantis, who was on the campaign trail in Iowa in the months leading up to the session, never pushed those leaders to schedule the bill.

“You have a Republican House Speaker state that he and his Republican colleagues don’t have an ‘appetite’ to debate and vote on open carry. You have a Republican Senate President state that repealing the under-21 purchase ban is a ‘non-starter.’ Yet both have the nerve to campaign that they’re pro-gun,” said Luis Valdes, Florida state director of Gun Owners of America, in February.

“Florida lawmakers claim to be pro-gun, but year after year, they’ve refused to repeal the 1987 ban on open carry, leaving Floridians in the very anti-gun company of New York, Illinois, and California, where this is also prohibited,” said Erich Pratt, GOA’s senior vice president, in a written statement announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

“GOA has been left with no choice but to sue the state, especially since GOA’s open carry bill was blocked by the Republican legislative leadership during the 2024 session’s first week. The ban has no historical basis and will surely be found unconstitutional under the Bruen precedent. We look forward to making our case and fighting for law-abiding Floridians.”

While Republican leaders in the Legislature supported a permitless carry law last year that allows people to carry concealed weapons without a government-issued license, House Speaker Paul Renner and especially Senate President Kathleen Passidomo resisted loosening other gun regulations in the Sunshine State during their two-year reign in power.

One such proposal is known as “open carry” — the wearing or carrying of a firearm in a clearly visible manner. Florida is one of four states that bans open carrying of guns.

Gun-rights advocates, weary of fighting the Legislature for that idea, filed a lawsuit in federal court this week attempting to overturn Florida’s open carry ban, but those same advocates also say that they’re reaching out to members of the House and Senate about getting a bill filed for the 2025 legislative session that would do the same thing.

“We’re already talking to lawmakers to introduce legislation next session,” said Luis Valdes, Florida state chair of Gun Owners of America. “We never give up the fight.”

The effort comes with renewed optimism with new leadership taking over the Florida Legislature later this year: Miami-Dade’s Daniel Perez in the House and Central Florida Republican Ben Albritton in the Senate.



“We’ve been having conversations with the new incoming Senate president and, while he’s not made any commitments, I think he’s going to be much more open to at least allowing pro-Second Amendment legislation to be heard,” said Bob White, chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

“And of course last session and the session before, President Passidomo just had an almost outright ban on Second Amendment bills even being heard, much less passed. So I’m optimistic that we might see some progress next year.”

Senate reluctance

Passidomo’s resistance was reflected in the fate of proposals that attempted to chip away at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, passed just weeks after the tragic shootings in Parkland that killed 17 people in February 2018.

In both 2023 and 2024 sessions, the Florida House passed bills that would have lowered the age for Floridians to buy a long gun from a federally licensed dealer from 21 to 18. On both occasions, not only did the Senate not follow suit, but no members even filed a companion bill.



Similarly, a measure that would have repealed a part of the 2018 legislation requiring that there either be a mandatory three-day waiting period to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer or a forced wait for a completed background check was also passed in the House, but never received a committee vote in the Senate earlier this year.

The permitless carry bill was part of the wish list that Gov. Ron DeSantis supported during the 2023 session, which saw major reforms passed by the Legislature in other areas in the months leading to the governor’s presidential run. But not open carry, much to the consternation of the gun-rights groups.

In the middle of that session, then-Hillsborough County Republican House member Mike Beltran filed an open carry amendment but immediate pushback from GOP leaders forced him to withdraw his bill the next day.

“I had the [GOP] leadership and my caucus and the NRA who were all against the open carry amendment. They were all against it,” Beltran recounted. “In fairness, they thought the [permitless concealed carry] bill was going to the Senate and then Passidomo wasn’t going to hear it, and it was going to upset this very delicate deal that they made” for the Senate to pass permitless carry — a deal, he added, that neither he nor other House members were consulted about.

Speaker Renner told him he should withdraw the bill and then run it during the 2024 session, Beltran said. Which is what Beltran did but, he said, again there was no support from House leadership. “He didn’t return my call. And so obviously the bill didn’t go through.”

Missing in this discussion is where exactly Gov. DeSantis was in all of this back and forth. The governor was captured in an audio recording telling Valdes in March 2023 that while he “absolutely” supported open carry, he didn’t think the Legislature would vote for it.

“The point is, if DeSantis had said to do it, I think Renner and for that matter Passidomo would have been hard pressed to say no,” said Beltran, who decided earlier this year not to run for re-election to his Hillsborough County House seat.

“And he didn’t lean in at that point, and that was when he was at the height of his power. It wasn’t like they were going to draw a big line in the sand at that. He was getting all kinds of things at that point. They certainly could have done it.”

Sheriffs’ opposition

Historically on this issue, one reason the Legislature has been hesitant to support open carry is because of opposition from the powerful Florida Sheriffs Association.

Former St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar, now running in the Republican state Senate primary election in Senate District 7 in Northeast Florida, said he used to be against open carry but now supports the idea.

“I actually used to be firmly against it, and part of that was that back in the day a great deal of law enforcement officers were being killed by their own handguns,” he said. “Now, that changed as our holstering and our training changed. So, I was leery of it for that purpose, but I’m really not now.”

“If Republicans want to prove how pro-gun they are, they could pass legislation and moot our case,” Valdes said. “But they haven’t passed open carry over the years, so we’re going to fight it tooth and nail, no matter what.”

The Phoenix reached out to incoming House Speaker Perez and incoming Senate President Albritton, but did not receive responses.

The Gun Owners of America (GOA) from Florida has filed a lawsuit looking to have a 1893 law overturned that bans citizens from openly carrying a firearm.

GOA Florida Director Luis Valdez says the lawsuit is needed because the Republican lawmakers wont repeal it.

Valdez says the 1893-gun restriction law is unconstitutional. The law states, “it’s unlawful for any person to openly carry on or about his or her person any firearm or electric weapon or device.”

Florida is a pro-gun state. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed pro-gun legislation doing away with a state mandate that said residents 21 and up would need a permit to carry concealed firearms. The law is gone and so are the permits and the fees associated with it.

While Valdez acknowledges some things have moved forward with improving gun rights within the state, it’s not enough.

This year, the Florida GOA lobbied to repeal a 2018 bill that increased the age limit from 18 to 21 when purchasing a long rifle. Some Republicans supported the repeal, but the state GOP controlled Senate wouldn’t bring it up for discussion.

Those within the Governor DeSantis’ office have said he would get behind legislation to repeal the 1893-gun ban on open carry ban in that legislation, but state lawmakers haven’t brought it up.

Valdez has been critical of state GOP lawmakers. He accused Florida Republican Senate President Kathleen Passidomo of acting no different than state democrats on this issue.

Passidomo says she didn’t support open carry because law enforcement groups like the Florida Sheriffs Association wouldn’t back it.

“I think the timing on an open carry proposal may come up sooner rather than later,” said former Florida State Rep. Matt Caldwell. Caldwell was one of the few Republicans who voted against raising the age limit to purchase a rifle.

Caldwell says the state has moved in the right direction on addressing more pro second amendment legislations.

A Labor Day weekend glass bottle attack of two Pennsylvania students wearing yarmulkes has prompted Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard, to renew his pledge to file legislation to repeal Florida's "gun-free zone" for state college and university campuses.  

Fine's pledge comes in the wake of gun activists filing a federal lawsuit in South Florida to have Florida's open-carry ban declared unconstitutional, and after Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Legislature earlier this year eliminated a requirement for a concealed weapon permit to carry firearms in public.

Gun Owners of America, which filed the lawsuit, said this year's changes in Florida gun regulations did not go far enough and criticized DeSantis for not pushing for further expansion of Second Amendment rights.

Florida joins 18 states in prohibiting firearms on college campuses.

DeSantis quietly signed the permitless carry bill last year, and the 2024 legislative session was the first since 2016 a campus carry proposal did not get a committee hearing.

DeSantis has told groups like Gun Owners of America he would support open-carry legislation, which would include campus carry, but gun rights advocates have been disappointed he has not pushed the issue with more force.

Last session, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo held the line on open-carry after talking to the Florida Sheriff's Association.

"The sheriffs who I deeply respect, who are in the business, who understand the issues, do not support open carry in the state of Florida," Passidomo said.

A question on whether Senate President designate Ben Albritton would take a similar tact is pending with his office.

Florida is among 18 states that prohibit firearms on college campuses.

"Even though Florida claims to be the freest state in the nation it prosecutes Floridians who want to openly carry firearms," said Valdes of Gun Owners of America.

The group endorses the campus carry bill Fine is writing.

"It's appalling that the states that border Florida have campus carry but Florida does not," Valdes said.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida’s Republican attorney general won’t fight a challenge to the state’s ban on openly carrying firearms, sidestepping a court fight in the nation’s third largest state.

Ashley Moody, who was first elected in 2018, has routinely sued President Joe Biden’s administration and publicly complained about authorities who refuse to follow the law. But her office turned down requests to represent a state prosecutor and a county sheriff who were the named defendants in a federal lawsuit brought by a gun rights organization that argues the ban violates the 2nd and 14th Amendment.

This means that Moody, a rumored candidate for governor in 2026, is skipping a potentially game-changing lawsuit that could result in guns being carried publicly in the tourist-dependent state.

The state attorney being sued in the lawsuit asked Buddy Jacobs — who has been a long-time lobbyist for the association that represents prosecutors — to represent him in the case after Moody’s office turned down a request to represent the prosecutor. Jacobs told POLITICO that Moody’s office also declined a request by the St. Lucie County sheriff to get involved in the case.

Kylie Mason, a spokesperson for Moody, would not say why the attorney general had declined to defend Florida’s open carry law. Mason only said in an email that “our office may become involved at a later stage.”

One of the jobs of the state attorney general is to help defend the constitutionality of Florida laws, and Moody has defended laws limiting guns in the past. Moody, for example, is currently helping defend the Florida law that legislators passed after the Parkland shooting that raised the age limit to purchase a rifle from 18 to 21. That’s despite her opposing raising the age limit on the campaign trail in 2018.

Moody has intervened in other, lower profile cases recently. Earlier this year she stepped into a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a recently-enacted law regarding Gainesville city utilities. In 2022, Moody intervened in a federal lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union filed against the Leon County court clerk that included a challenge to the state’s bail bonds law.

Moody has taken on a prominent role challenging the Biden administration and has sharply criticized Democratic politicians who she said fail to enforce the law. At a recent press conference in August, Moody took aim at California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other politicians that she said were letting there be “chaos in the streets” due to their unwillingness to enforce laws they did not agree with.

“Laws are nothing if they are not enforced,” Moody said at the time.

The office of Thomas Bakkedahl, the state attorney who represents several counties in Florida’s Treasure Coast region and is being sued, directed questions to Jacobs. A spokesperson for the St. Lucie County sheriff did not immediately return a request for comment.

“I was surprised when I heard the attorney general would not defend the state but I won’t speculate as to reasons,” said State Attorney Dave Aronberg, a Democrat from Palm Beach County who is not part of the litigation.

But he added that: “There’s not a lot of support for open carry in Florida which is why the plaintiffs are seeking to have the courts do it rather than the Legislature.”

The state Supreme Court has previously upheld the law banning open carry, but the split ruling came seven years ago — before the court’s makeup was changed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis and Moody are considered allies, but the two are elected independently of each other. The governor, who is term-limited, has not overtly gotten involved in the race to replace him.

Gun rights activists did push to scrap Florida’s long-standing open carry law when legislators eliminated permit requirements for concealed weapons. DeSantis said he was willing to consider allowing open carry, but certain legislative leaders — including outgoing state Senate President Kathleen Passidomo — opposed the move. Passidomo cited opposition from Florida’s sheriffs as one of the reasons she did not support open carry.

Gun Owners of America, along with a Palm Beach County gun owner, filed a lawsuit in early August calling the state’s ban on open carry a “blatant infringement” of the Second Amendment rights of Floridians and a violation of equal protection rights.

The gun lawsuit is still in the early stages, although initially those challenging the law nearly got a default judgment because there was no initial response by the defendants.

Last week, Jacobs filed a motion asking the judge to toss out the lawsuit on multiple grounds including that the dispute should be handled in state court. The motion also contends that Florida’s open carry restriction is constitutional and is consistent with the historical tradition of firearm regulation. But the motion also argues that the case should be at least put on hold until a federal appeals court decides the ongoing challenge against the Parkland law.

Luis Valdes, Florida state director for Gun Owners of America, said that only Moody could answer why she has not gotten involved in the lawsuit.

But he said that the organization brought the lawsuit in federal court because the GOP supermajority in the Legislature may “claim to be pro-gun” but their decision to block open carry legislation “reflects their lack of support for the Second Amendment.” Valdes also criticized DeSantis for failing to get legislators to act.

“Florida is the only conservative state in the country to ban open carry and so called pro-gun officials have failed to repeal this gun control,” Valdes said.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has opted not to defend the state's ban on open carry in a federal lawsuit, leaving a state prosecutor and sheriff to find their own legal representation against a challenge brought by gun rights advocates, Politico reported.

Moody has chosen not to represent the state in a federal lawsuit challenging its ban on the open carrying of firearms, a decision that may have significant implications for gun rights and public safety in the state.

The lawsuit, brought by Gun Owners of America and a Palm Beach County resident, argues that the ban violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.

Moody, rumored to be considering a run for governor in 2026, has frequently taken legal action against the Biden administration while criticizing officials who do not enforce laws, declined to represent a state prosecutor and a St. Lucie County sheriff named defendants in the case.

Moody's office is typically responsible for defending the constitutionality of Florida laws.

Kylie Mason, a spokesperson for Moody, did not provide a reason for the decision but indicated that the attorney general's office might become involved later.

The decision has surprised some observers, given Moody's track record of defending gun-related laws. She is currently engaged in defending a Florida law that raises the minimum age to purchase a rifle from 18 to 21, enacted after the 2018 Parkland school shooting.

The lawsuit could potentially overturn the state's prohibition on open carry, reshaping gun policy in a state known for its tourism and diverse population.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld the open carry ban in 2017, but the court's composition has changed under GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis. Despite being allies, DeSantis and Moody are independently elected officials, and the governor has not directly commented on Moody's decision or the ongoing lawsuit.

Gun rights advocates had previously lobbied for open carry legislation when Florida's lawmakers eliminated permit requirements for concealed carry.

However, resistance from law enforcement, including Florida's sheriffs and key legislators such as outgoing state Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, thwarted those efforts. Passidomo cited opposition from law enforcement as a primary reason for blocking open carry legislation.

Luis Valdes, Florida state director for Gun Owners of America, tells Newsmax he is encouraged by Moody's decision to abstain from the case. Valdes has faulted DeSantis for not pushing legislators to enact open carry despite their professed pro-gun stance.

"Florida is the only conservative state in the country to ban open carry, and so-called pro-gun officials have failed to repeal this gun control," Valdes said.