Welcome back to Guns and Gadgets, the premier source for Second Amendment news. I am Jared, and if you find value in the deep dives that I do here on the Second Amendment, hit the subscribe button and ring the bell notification so you don’t miss the updates on cases like this and others. And today’s sponsor is Attorneys on Retainer. I’m Jared from Guns and Gadgets, and I’m here at Attorneys on Retainer. If you’re serious about self-defense, it’s time to get serious about defending yourself. When you become a member of AOR, they’ll cover you in all kinds of scenarios in self-defense that others won’t.

In fact, they’re able to cover you in every single state, and there aren’t many that can say that either. They’re an actual law firm, which means they’re not held by certain limitations of other companies that are insurance-backed. And if you’re serious about defending yourself, I will save you big dollars on your sign-up fee. I’ll save you $25 off of your family sign-up and $50 off of your individual sign-up. All you got to do is hit the link in the description down below. It’s attorneysonretainer.us, and use my code GNG. And when you give them a call, tell them I said hi.

Let’s be serious. When we’re defending others, there’s not a lot of people out there defending us. Attorneys on Retainer will have your back. All right. The case here is McDaniels versus the state of Florida, and Florida’s first district court of appeals had today held that Florida’s open carry ban violates the Second Amendment. The court vacated the defendant’s conviction and declared the statute unconstitutional because the state failed to show any American historical tradition that broadly prohibited peaceable open carry. And the way they did it is awesome. They shredded the state. The bottom line is the court said open carry falls within the plain text of the right to keep bare arms, and Florida’s blanket ban cannot be squared with history and tradition under Bruin.

Now, Florida’s law was enacted in 1987, and it made it a crime to openly carry any firearm, with very narrow exceptions like hunting and fishing. And a brief display, there was a carve-out for concealed carriers, and it was treated as an affirmative defense, which means you could still get locked up for it. Now, the violation was a second-degree misdemeanor, up to 60 days in jail or $500 fine or both, and the court emphasized Florida stood virtually alone with California, Connecticut, and Illinois in generally prohibiting open carry. Yes, even Massachusetts is an open carry state.

Now, here’s the incident. On July 4th of 2022, in downtown Pensacola, Mr. McDaniels peaceably stood at a major intersection, waving at traffic while holding a copy of the U.S. Constitution. He carried a holstered handgun inside of his waistband, visible, loaded, but not brandished, and he was recording. And some dumb unconstitutional cop later arrested him under Section 79053, and he moved to dismiss the case as unconstitutional, to dismiss his arrest as unconstitutional. Now, the trial court denied but certified the Second Amendment question to the appellate court. He was convicted, and the sentence was stayed pending that appeal.

Well, that came back today. The appellate court walked through the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment trilogy, and Heller, in 2008, said, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation and centered on self-defense and rejects rational basis reviews and free-floating interest balancing. Then came McDonald in 2010, which incorporated that right against the states through the 14th Amendment, and then Bruin we got in 2022, which ended the means in two-step scrutiny and restored text history and tradition as the only test, and there was two parts to it.

The first one, if the plain text covers the conduct, it’s presentively protected by the Second Amendment. And number two, if the government must prove its regulation is consistent with its nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation, there’s no interest balancing ever again. There’s no deference to modern policy hunches. Now, the court also noted Rahimi in 2024, and the 11th Circuit Authority emphasizing founding error understanding, which is 1791 when the Second Amendment was adopted and ratified as primary, with reconstruction error evidence also probative for public carry. Now, Florida’s Supreme Court had previously upheld this open carry ban in 2017 in the Norman case using the now-rejected two-step intermediate scrutiny approach that Bruin destroyed.

And the First Circuit Court of Appeals here explained that they are bound by the U.S. Supreme Court’s constitutional methodology, and that’s Bruin. And since Bruin repudiated that approach, Norman’s framework cannot control a federal Second Amendment claim today. Yes, to bear arms is to carry upon the person or in the clothing publicly for self-defense. The text doesn’t distinguish home versus public or open versus concealed, and Florida’s ban targets protected conduct. The presumption of protection applies, which was great. Now, the state bears the burden, and it failed. And here’s how the court analyzed the history the government offered, which was great.

The government offered the statute of Northampton, which was from 1328, and early English sources. They were not controlling because they historically were aimed at carrying to the terror of the people, not ordinary peaceable carry, so that analog didn’t work. Next was the founding reconstruction laws that the state cited. Many of them were irrelevant. There were taxes on weapons sales, a New Mexico territorial outlier, and general political pamphlets. They were not relevantly similar to a categorical open carry prohibition, so those didn’t work. Then there were three buckets of some closer historical laws that the state relied on, and why they don’t save 790.053 is great, because number one was a surety law.

We’ve seen this before in some two-way cases. That’s when somebody had to post a bond if somebody else swore that they were reasonably in fear because of something that person did. It targeted specific dangerous individuals after the complaint, still allowed carry upon posting the surety. It was not a blanket ban, tossed out. Second one was criminal intent of fray laws. No carrying to terrorize, and only prohibited carrying with wrongful intent. Peaceable open carry remained lawful. That’s out. Number three was concealed carry bans. Historically common and sometimes upheld, but the court stressed a critical point. Open and concealed carry were not interchangeable historically.

Many courts upheld bans on concealed carry precisely because open carry remained the default lawful mode of bearing arms. So, historic cases that the court highlighted, some of them you might have heard, some you might not have, and you might want to know them because they came up big today. AMEC was a Tennessee case from 1840, and Reed was an Alabama case same year. Those were bans on concealed carry, and it said that those bans could be valid, but banning open carry would destroy the right. Thus, open carry was the constitutionally protected mode. Then none, which is a Georgia case from 1846, and Chandler, which is a Louisiana case from 1850, same thing.

Concealed carry could be restricted to curb ambush and assassinations. Funny we’re talking about that. Well, open carry preserved the citizens right of self-defense and placed men upon an equality. Then Florida’s own statute from 1867, where the legislature barred concealed carry but expressly allowed open carry outside of all of their clothes, recognizing the public safety rationale against concealed weapons while preserving open carry. So, the court here said our tradition, our own tradition, doesn’t include broad bans on peaceable open carry in Florida nor nationwide. And the state can regulate dangerous conduct and specific people proven risky, but it cannot erase open carry for ordinary, law-abiding adults.

Florida’s ban extends far beyond anything recognized in our historical tradition. So, the court declared Section 790.053 unconstitutional. It reversed the conviction and it vacated the sentence of the young buck who was waving at the intersection, and it answers the certified question in the affirmative. Yes, Florida’s open carry ban violates the Second Amendment under the text history tradition test. An important procedural note here, straight from the opinion’s footer, this decision is not final until the time for any timely rehearing motion runs. That’s another appeal, but first off, that’s just standard appellate language, just to be aware.

Let me give you the butt here in a second. But the first District Court of Appeals has declared the statute unconstitutional and vacated the conviction, right? That’s a powerful ruling under Bruin. However, because the decision does note it is not final until disposition of any timely motions, here’s the big butt. But Florida’s own Attorney General, James Uthmeyer, today released a statement on X, right after this decision came out, saying, quote, Florida’s first District Court of Appeals just ruled that Florida’s open carry ban is no longer constitutionally enforceable statewide. Our office fully supports the court’s decision.

This is a big win for the Second Amendment rights of Floridians. As we’ve all witnessed over the last few days, our God-given right to self-defense is indispensable. And he made that statement before Charlie Kirk was assassinated. Now Bruin’s historical method continues to reshape gun law. We’ve got a lot of wins because of Bruin. And when states lean on generalized public safety without historical grounding, courts are pushing back. If you live in Florida, congratulations. I’ll keep you all updated on all things Second Amendment. So subscribe to Guns and Gadgets and share this with friends, especially if they carry in the state of Florida.

Guys, until we see each other again, stay safe, stay free, keep your head on a swivel. Where do we go from here? Take care, y’all. [tr:trw].

See more of Guns & Gadgets 2nd Amendment News on their Public Channel and the MPN Guns & Gadgets 2nd Amendment News channel.