Florida AG Says Open Gun Carry Ban Void Across State

Florida law enforcement agents should stop prosecuting criminal penalties for the open carrying of firearms, Attorney General James Uthmeier said Monday in statewide guidance that conflicts with outdated precedent from the state Supreme Court.

The guidance builds off a Sept. 10 state appeals court ruling that Florida’s open-carry ban violates Second Amendment rights under the US Constitution. This is the same law that a divided Florida Supreme Court upheld under a Second Amendment challenge in 2017 under a prior analysis of the right to bear weapons.

The block on that ban should apply statewide, Uthmeier said, because last week’s opinion ...