A Florida appeals court panel on Wednesday struck down a longstanding state law that barred young adults from legally carrying concealed weapons. It was a victory for the state attorney general, James Uthmeier, who had declined to defend the law in court.
Three judges from the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Broward County unanimously ruled against the law, which was passed in 1987 and barred 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying concealed weapons.
Citing recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have dramatically reshaped the nation’s gun laws, Judge Spencer D. Levine wrote that the Florida statute “was contrary to our historical tradition and violates the Second Amendment.” He wrote that 18-year-olds are encouraged to join the military and “defend the country without restriction,” yet the law imposed “severe restrictions” on their right to self-defense.
The ruling was not unexpected. Mr. Uthmeier, a Republican who has championed gun rights, previously asked the court to strike down the law. On Wednesday, he said on social media that the decision was “another win for the unalienable rights of Floridians” to carry firearms.
Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, a two-term Republican, lawmakers and court rulings have made it easier to carry guns in Florida.
In 2023, Mr. DeSantis signed a law that eliminated the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
Law-abiding Floridians have been able to openly carry firearms since 2025, when a state appeals court in Tallahassee ruled that a previous ban on the practice violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Some of the few new gun restrictions in the state’s recent history were passed in 2018, following the massacre of 17 students and staff members at a high school in Parkland, Fla. They included raising the minimum age for all gun purchases from 18 to 21, and mandating a three-day waiting period for prospective gun buyers.
The Florida House has repeatedly tried to roll back the age restriction for the purchase of long guns, with Mr. DeSantis’s support, but the State Senate did not go along.
In the case decided on Wednesday, a man who was 18 when he was arrested in 2024 on charges of carrying a concealed weapon in Broward County challenged the law.
Harold F. Pryor, the Broward County state attorney, split with Mr. Uthmeier on the ban. In a statement in February, he cited the Parkland massacre in explaining why he disagreed with Mr. Uthmeier. The ban, he said, was needed to make “our communities safer and prevent future tragedies.”
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