Florida Gun Charges, and Why They Are Different Right Now
Florida regulates firearms through Chapter 790, a web of hundreds of offenses that run from a misdemeanor for improperly showing a gun to a mandatory minimum measured in decades when a firearm is used in a serious felony. Two things make Florida gun cases distinctive at this moment. The law itself is moving, with permitless carry arriving in 2023 and the open-carry ban falling in 2025, so a lot of what people think they know is out of date. And many firearm charges carry mandatory minimums that take the sentence out of the judge’s hands entirely. Knowing which rules changed, and which charge carries a floor the court cannot go below, is where a gun defense begins.
The Stakes: 10-20-Life
The single most important statute in a Florida gun case is section 775.087, the law known as 10-20-Life. When a firearm is involved in a qualifying felony, it does two things: it can bump the offense up a degree, and it imposes a mandatory minimum the court must impose and cannot suspend or withhold.
| What happened with the firearm | Mandatory minimum |
|---|---|
| Possessed during a qualifying felony | 10 years |
| Discharged during a qualifying felony | 20 years |
| Discharge caused death or great bodily harm | 25 years to life |
These are floors, served day for day, and they attach to a list of felonies that includes robbery, burglary, aggravated assault and battery, and many others. Fighting the mandatory minimum, by attacking whether the underlying felony qualifies, whether the firearm was truly possessed or discharged, and whether the State can prove it at all, is the heart of a serious gun case, and it is the subject of the 10-20-Life page.
Who Cannot Have a Gun
Florida and federal law bar certain people from possessing a firearm at all, no matter how the carry rules change. The largest group is people with a felony conviction, who commit a second-degree felony under section 790.23 by possessing a firearm, ammunition, or an electric weapon. Federal law adds others under 18 U.S.C. 922(g), including people under certain domestic-violence injunctions and a handful of other categories. For someone in a prohibited class, the question is rarely whether carry is legal generally, but whether the State can prove that this person knowingly possessed this firearm, which is the focus of the felon in possession page.
The Carry Landscape Just Changed
Two recent shifts rewrote the rules for ordinary, eligible gun owners. As of July 1, 2023, Florida allows permitless concealed carry, so an eligible person no longer needs a license to carry a concealed firearm. Then, on September 10, 2025, the First District Court of Appeal struck down Florida’s open-carry ban as unconstitutional in McDaniels v. State, No. 1D2023-0533 (Fla. 1st DCA 2025), and the Attorney General declined to appeal and advised law enforcement statewide to treat open carry as lawful, which made Florida a constitutional-carry state for both concealed and open carry. None of that changes two limits. People in a prohibited class still cannot carry, and firearms are still barred in sensitive places, including schools, courthouses, polling places, airport terminals past security, and businesses licensed to serve alcohol, under section 790.06(12) and section 790.115. The open-carry question is also heading to the Florida Supreme Court, so this is current law that could shift again. The carrying and concealed carry page keeps it straight.
The Possession Problem
A great many gun cases turn on a single question: was the firearm really the defendant’s. Where a gun is found on a person, that is actual possession. Where it is found in a shared car, a shared home, or a space several people could reach, the State leans on constructive possession, and it must prove that the accused knew the firearm was present and had the ability to control it. Mere presence near a gun in a shared space is not enough. That gap, the same one that runs through drug cases, is often where a possession charge is won, and it ties directly into the forensic question of whose gun it was.
Self-Defense and Stand Your Ground
When the gun was used to defend against a real threat, Florida law offers more than a jury argument. Under sections 776.012 and 776.032, a person who lawfully used force can be immune from prosecution, and the defense is raised before trial at an immunity hearing where, once the defense makes a prima facie showing, the burden shifts to the State to overcome immunity by clear and convincing evidence. A win there ends the case. Having tried Stand Your Ground issues myself, I treat the immunity hearing as its own battleground, covered on the Stand Your Ground page.
The Forensic Angle
This is where a gun case quietly becomes a science case. Prosecutors lean on forensic claims that sound definitive and are not always: gunshot residue said to place a gun in someone’s hand, toolmark and ballistics testimony said to match a bullet to a specific firearm, and DNA said to tie a person to a weapon. Each of those disciplines carries real questions about transfer, contamination, and scientific foundation, and national scientific reviews have challenged the certainty with which firearm and toolmark matches are presented. Reading those claims the way the analyst does, rather than taking them at face value, is the work I cover on the challenging the firearm evidence page.
The Search Almost Always Comes First
Before any of this, there is usually a stop and a search. Guns are most often found during traffic stops, pat-downs, and searches incident to arrest, and if the stop lacked reasonable suspicion or the search exceeded its limits, the firearm can be suppressed. When the gun comes out, the case frequently goes with it, which is why the first hard look in almost any firearm case is at the Fourth Amendment, on the search and seizure page.
How I Approach a Gun Case
I work a firearm case on every front at once: whether the search was lawful, whether the State can prove the gun was yours, whether the forensic claims hold up, whether self-defense immunity applies, and, when a mandatory minimum is in play, whether the State can prove every element that triggers it. The goal is to keep the case off the floors that 10-20-Life imposes, and to find the version of the facts the State cannot prove.
Related: Challenging a search or stop, How sentencing works, Violation of probation, and Criminal defense overview.
I started out as an Assistant Public Defender in Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, in Tampa, and I am one of six ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientists in the state. A gun case is often a forensic case wearing a felony label, and it is also one where the law has been changing fast. I work both sides of that. Learn more about my background.
Common Questions
Is open carry legal in Florida now?
As of the current law, yes, for eligible people. In September 2025 the First District Court of Appeal struck down Florida's open-carry ban in McDaniels v. State, the Attorney General declined to appeal and advised law enforcement statewide to treat open carry as lawful, and combined with permitless concealed carry that began in 2023 that makes Florida a constitutional-carry state. People in a prohibited class still cannot carry, sensitive places remain off limits, and the issue is headed to the Florida Supreme Court, so it could change again.
Can a convicted felon ever possess a firearm in Florida?
Not unless firearm rights have been formally restored. Possession of a firearm, ammunition, or an electric weapon by a person with a felony conviction is a second-degree felony under section 790.23, punishable by up to fifteen years, and it can carry a three-year mandatory minimum for actual possession. Restoration runs through the state's clemency process and is limited and discretionary.
What is Florida's 10-20-Life law?
Section 775.087 imposes mandatory minimum prison terms when a firearm is involved in a qualifying felony: ten years for possessing it, twenty years for discharging it, and twenty-five years to life if the discharge causes death or great bodily harm. The court must impose these floors and cannot suspend or withhold them, which is why these enhancements are fought hard from the start.
The gun was not mine. Can I still be charged?
You can, through constructive possession, but it is also where many gun cases fall apart. When a firearm is found in a shared car or home, the State cannot infer it was yours from your mere presence. It has to prove you knew the gun was there and had the ability to control it, and without that independent proof the charge may not hold.
What is Stand Your Ground?
Stand Your Ground, under sections 776.012 and 776.032, allows a person who lawfully used force in self-defense to claim immunity from prosecution, raised before trial at an immunity hearing. Once the defense makes a prima facie showing, the State must overcome immunity by clear and convincing evidence, and a successful motion ends the case.
Do I need a permit to carry a firearm in Florida?
For an eligible person, no. Since July 1, 2023, Florida allows permitless concealed carry, and after the 2025 McDaniels decision open carry is treated as lawful as well. Eligibility still matters, prohibited people cannot carry, and you still cannot carry in sensitive places like schools, courthouses, and bars, so the limits are about who and where rather than whether you hold a license.
This page is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Firearm law in Florida is changing, and several rules described here are recent or under review, so confirm how the current law applies to your facts with counsel. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
