Criminal Defense · Florida Gun Owners
Where You Cannot Carry a Firearm in Florida: Prohibited Places
Most lawful gun owners who get arrested do not get arrested for the gun. They get arrested for where they were standing with it.
Florida keeps a list of places where carrying is banned, even for license holders. The same list applies to people who carry without a license. Federal places add their own rules on top of Florida's. This page gives you the list so you know where to look twice.
The main Florida list
The list is in the concealed-carry licensing statute. It says a license does not allow anyone to openly carry a handgun, or carry a concealed weapon or firearm, into:
- Any place of nuisance, as Florida law defines it
- Any police, sheriff, or highway patrol station
- Any detention facility, prison, or jail
- Any courthouse
- Any courtroom (a judge may carry, and decides who may carry, in his or her courtroom)
- Any polling place
- Any meeting of the governing body of a county, public school district, city, or special district
- Any meeting of the Legislature or one of its committees
- Any school, college, or professional athletic event not related to firearms
- Any elementary or secondary school facility or administration building
- Any career center
- Any part of an establishment licensed to serve alcohol for drinking on the premises, if that part is mainly used for that purpose
- Any college or university facility (the only exception is for students, employees, and faculty carrying certain non-lethal stun devices, not firearms)
- The inside of an airport passenger terminal and its sterile area (with an exception for a firearm encased for checking as baggage)
- Any place where federal law bans carrying firearms
A knowing and willful violation of this list is a second-degree misdemeanor. Some places on the list are also covered by other statutes with harsher penalties. Schools are the main example.
The list does not stop a license holder from carrying or storing a firearm in a vehicle for lawful purposes.
Schools
School property has its own statute and its own penalties. Florida law bars possessing a firearm at a school-sponsored event, on school property, on a school bus, or at a school bus stop. "School" here includes preschools through high schools, career centers, and colleges and universities, public or private.
Knowingly possessing a firearm in violation of this law is a third-degree felony.
There are narrow exceptions. One allows a firearm kept in a vehicle under Florida's vehicle-carry rules. School districts may adopt policies that take away that exception for student and campus parking. Do not assume a parking lot is safe. Check first.
Government buildings and meetings
Florida law bars guns at police stations, jails, courthouses, courtrooms, polling places, and meetings of local governing bodies and the Legislature.
Federal law separately makes it a crime to knowingly have a firearm in a federal facility, with exceptions. Federal courthouses have their own federal rules. Do not rely on Florida law inside a federal building or a post office.
Airports
Florida's list covers the inside of the passenger terminal and the sterile area, not only the area past the checkpoint. The statute allows you to bring a legal firearm into the terminal if it is encased for shipment so you can check it as baggage.
Separately, federal law makes it a crime to have a concealed dangerous weapon on or about you, or in your property, that would be accessible in flight when you board or try to board an aircraft. Flying with a firearm is a separate topic with its own page.
Bars and restaurants
The rule is about the part of the business, not the whole building. The ban covers any part of an establishment licensed to serve alcohol for drinking on the premises, if that part is mainly devoted to serving alcohol. A bar area is the classic example. A restaurant dining room may be treated differently. Where the line falls can depend on the layout and the facts.
Whatever the rule says about the place, it never helps to be intoxicated while armed. Florida has a separate crime for using a firearm while under the influence.
Churches and other religious institutions
Florida law allows a license holder to carry a concealed weapon or firearm on property owned, rented, leased, borrowed, or lawfully used by a church, synagogue, or other religious institution. The institution keeps its own private-property rights, so it can still set rules for its property.
Private property
A private owner can set rules for people who come onto the property. A business or homeowner may post a sign, or may ask you to leave.
Staying after being told to leave can lead to a trespass charge. If you are armed in a building or vehicle when that happens, it can be armed trespass, a felony. That can happen even where carrying would otherwise have been lawful.
Florida has a specific statute on parking lots. In general, employers may not bar customers, employees, or invitees from keeping a legally owned firearm locked inside a private vehicle in the parking lot. The statute has exceptions, including for certain locations. Confirm how it applies before you rely on it.
Why this matters more than people think
The location rules are where good intentions break down. A father carries to a school pickup. A traveler walks into a courthouse. A man picks up a friend at the airport and walks into the terminal. In each case he did not plan to commit a crime. He did not check the list.
Some of these offenses are felonies. A felony conviction can also take away your right to own a firearm at all.
A quick routine before you walk in
- Where is this place, and what is it? Government, school, college, alcohol, sports, travel?
- Is there a sign, a metal detector, or a security desk?
- Can I leave the firearm secured in the vehicle, and is that allowed here?
- If I am not sure, can I skip carrying today?
The last question is the best insurance you have.
If you were charged
A defense lawyer can look at whether the place actually falls under the statute, whether an exception applies, whether you acted knowingly and willfully, and whether the stop and search were lawful. These are fact-heavy questions, and the answers can change the case.
Charged with carrying in a restricted place? Call (305) 209-0384 for a free consultation. We answer 24/7. Se habla español.
General information, not legal advice. Reading this page creates no lawyer-client relationship, and no result is promised. The list changes; confirm the current law before you act. Law last checked October 27, 2026.