PINELLAS COUNTY – In response to Florida’s First District Court of Appeal ruling on the state’s open carry ban, Sheriff Gualtieri provides the following statement:
Florida’s First District Court of Appeal (DCA) held this week that F.S. 790.053 prohibiting the open carry of guns is unconstitutional. There are two very important things that people in Pinellas County need to know about the court’s decision.
First, under law, the decision is not effective for 15 days after it was issued and it was issued on September 10, 2025. That means the law prohibiting open carry is not yet affected and open carry in Florida is still prohibited. Nobody should now open carry in Pinellas County. Second, this was a decision by the First DCA and Pinellas County is under the jurisdiction of the Second DCA, and the Florida Supreme Court.
There is a previous decision by the Florida Supreme Court holding the statute prohibiting open carry of guns is constitutional. As a matter of well-established law a lower court, especially one in another district, cannot overrule the law established by the Florida Supreme Court. We must consider whether the Supreme Court’s prior decision is the law in Pinellas County.
We are working with the Florida Attorney General, the State Attorney, and others to determine the scope of the First DCA decision and how to proceed come September 25, 2025, the effective date of the First DCA’s decision.
Our job as law enforcement is to follow the law and not make the law. We will follow the law and respect statutes and court decisions. However, we have to know “what” the law is and where it is applicable before we can decide “what” and “how” we enforce the law.
Once we have had an opportunity to fully consider the scope and applicability of the First DCA’s decision, we will publish guidance to the public on how we enforce or not enforce F.S. 790.053 in Pinellas County. We will do so before September 25, 2025, but in the meantime please remember, the open carry of guns in Florida is still unlawful.