Overview
- Applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen test, the First District Court of Appeal said Florida’s decades‑old prohibition conflicts with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
- The three‑judge panel reversed Stanley Victor McDaniels’ conviction from his 2022 Pensacola open‑carry arrest and vacated his sentence.
- The opinion stresses that open carry is presumptively protected but not absolute, leaving room for reasonable limits and location‑based restrictions as well as private‑property rules.
- Several sheriffs, including Brevard County’s Wayne Ivey, directed deputies to stop arrests based solely on open carry following the decision.
- State leaders publicly backed the ruling, with Gov. Ron DeSantis praising the outcome and Attorney General James Uthmeier expressing support for the court’s decision.