One Year of McDaniels: Florida’s Private Employers Retaining Right to Reasonable Firearm Restrictions in the New Open Carry Landscape

Takeaways

• Florida’s 2025 McDaniels decision, along with the state permitless concealed-carry law, generally allows lawful open carry in Florida, but private employers may still bar firearms in company buildings, restricted work areas and company-owned vehicles.
• Employers must comply with Florida’s parking-lot law, which generally protects employees’ and visitors’ rights to keep legally owned firearms locked in private vehicles.
• Employers, especially those in the retail and hospitality industries, should review and update firearm and workplace-violence policies, audit signage and more.

Related link

• McDaniels v. State of Florida

Article

One year ago, Florida’s firearms landscape fundamentally changed when a state appellate court held in McDaniels v. State of Florida, 419 So. 3d 1180 (Fla. 1st DCA 2025), that Florida’s statutory ban on openly carrying firearms violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. On Sept. 10, 2025, the court declared unconstitutional the 1987 law that made it a misdemeanor to visibly display guns. The Florida attorney general subsequently advised law-enforcement agencies and prosecutors that McDaniels was binding on Florida trial courts and was effectively state law.

Along with Florida’s 2023 permitless concealed-carry legislation, McDaniels resulted in Florida law generally permitting otherwise lawful open carry by individuals who are legally entitled to possess firearms, subject to restrictions applicable to particular persons, locations, and conduct.

(Showing that Florida’s firearms laws are changing constantly, a state appellate court recently held in Eubanks v. Florida, No. 4D2025-1698 (Fla. 4th DCA June 17, 2026), that Section 790.06(2)(b) of the Florida Statutes, which bars law-abiding adults aged 18 to 20 from obtaining concealed carry permits, is facially unconstitutional. The Attorney General’s Office indicated it will not seek further review of the case.)

The constitutional right to carry a firearm generally limits governmental action. Therefore, a private employer or property owner may establish reasonable restrictions over firearms inside its workplace. Florida law still allows businesses to set their own rules about whether to allow guns to be carried openly on their property. People with guns displayed openly who refuse to leave such businesses can be charged with criminal trespass.

Florida employers face a changing legal landscape. What should they know, and what practical steps can they take to protect their businesses, employees, and customers?

Private Employers Generally Retain Control Over Their Workplaces

Private employers generally may prohibit customers, vendors, and employees from carrying firearms inside company buildings, in restricted work areas, and in company-owned, leased, or rented vehicles, subject to Florida’s statutory protections for firearms secured in private vehicles in qualifying parking lots. Florida’s parking-lot statute expressly does not cover vehicles owned, leased, or rented by an employer, and employers can set their own rules over those vehicles.

Employers seeking to maintain a firearm-free workplace should adopt a clearly written policy that identifies:

• Where firearms are prohibited; 
• Who is covered by the policy; and 
• The consequences of a violation.

The policy should also recognize any applicable federal, state, or local rights and exceptions.

Employers should distinguish between violating an internal policy and committing criminal trespass. A person who refuses to leave a building upon the request of an owner, lessee, or authorized representative may be in violation of Florida’s trespass laws. If the individual is armed with a firearm or another dangerous weapon while trespassing, the offense may be elevated to a third-degree felony. Different notice requirements apply to outdoor property, where notice may be provided through direct communication, qualifying posted signage, fencing, or cultivation.

Accordingly, employers should train managers to communicate restrictions clearly and request that a person leave when appropriate. Employees should not attempt to detain or physically remove an armed individual. If the individual refuses to leave or creates a safety concern, employees should disengage and contact law enforcement, consistent with the employer’s emergency-response procedures.

Parking-Lot Protections

Although employers generally may prohibit firearms inside the workplace, Florida’s Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008 limits covered employers’ ability to regulate firearms lawfully stored in private vehicles in qualifying parking lots.

Subject to the statute’s definitions and exceptions, public and private employers generally may not:

1. Prohibit a customer, employee, or invitee from possessing a legally owned firearm that is lawfully possessed and locked inside or locked to a private motor vehicle in an employer’s parking lot.
    
2. Ask a customer, employee, or invitee whether a firearm is present inside or locked to a private vehicle in the employer’s parking lot.
    
3. Search a private vehicle in an employer’s parking lot to determine whether it contains a firearm, although on-duty law-enforcement personnel may conduct a lawful search under the circumstances permitted by the statute.
    
4. Take action against a customer, employee, or invitee based on statements concerning a firearm lawfully stored in a private vehicle.
    
5. Condition employment on whether an employee or applicant is authorized to carry a concealed weapon or concealed firearm.
    
6. Require an employee or applicant to agree not to keep a legal firearm locked inside or locked to a private vehicle in a parking lot when the firearm is kept for a lawful purpose.
    
7. Terminate or otherwise discriminate against an employee for exercising rights protected by the statute, provided that the firearm is not exhibited on company property for a reason other than a lawful defensive purpose.

Employers should review carefully the statute’s precise definitions. An “employee” includes a person who is authorized to carry a concealed weapon or concealed firearm under Florida law and who works for remuneration, serves as an independent contractor, or serves as a volunteer, intern, or similar individual.

Importantly, the statute does not apply to the following:  

• Certain school properties; 
• Correctional institutions; 
• Nuclear-power facilities; 
• Properties involving substantial national-defense, aerospace, or homeland-security activities; 
• Certain properties involving combustible or explosive materials; 
• Employer-owned or employer-leased vehicles; and 
• Property where firearm possession is prohibited by federal law, a federal government contract, or another Florida general law.

Employers should therefore determine whether the statute covers their facilities before revising their parking-lot rules or responding to a report that an employee has a firearm in a vehicle.

Practical Issues for Employers

1. Employee concerns and workplace-safety obligations

Visible firearms may create employee-relations and workplace-safety concerns, particularly in public-facing workplaces. Some employees may become anxious when they encounter an armed customer, vendor, or coworker, even when the individual’s possession of the firearm is lawful.

Employers should evaluate reported threats, intimidating conduct, and other safety concerns under their existing workplace-violence procedures and applicable occupational-safety obligations. At the same time, lawful firearm possession, standing alone, should not automatically be equated with threatening conduct.

A clearly drafted and consistently enforced policy can help employees understand the distinction between conduct that is lawful under state law and conduct prohibited by the employer. Employers should also provide employees with a defined process for reporting concerns without personally confronting an armed individual.

2. Location-specific questions for hospitality businesses

Florida law continues to restrict firearms in parts of establishments primarily devoted to dispensing alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises. (Florida Statutes § 790.06.)

Restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues, and other mixed-use hospitality businesses may encounter fact-specific questions when their dining and bar areas share an open layout. Rather than assuming alcohol-related restrictions apply to the entire establishment, businesses should evaluate their floor plans, licensing arrangements, and actual use of particular areas.

Hospitality employers should consider identifying the parts of the establishment primarily devoted to dispensing alcohol and providing employees with clear instructions on how management will address firearms in those areas. Any posted signs or physical markers should be reviewed as part of a broader operational and legal assessment, rather than as a substitute for employee training.

3. De-escalation is critical

Retail and hospitality employees are often the first to encounter an armed customer. Employers should not expect untrained frontline employees to interpret firearm laws, physically confront the individual, handle the firearm, or attempt to disarm the person.

Instead, employers should designate trained managers or security personnel to communicate the company’s policy. Employees should be instructed not to block the person’s movement or engage in a prolonged argument.

If an individual refuses to comply with a lawful request to leave, makes threats, displays a firearm in a threatening manner, or otherwise creates an immediate safety concern, employees should disengage, move to a safe location, and contact law enforcement, consistent with the employer’s emergency-response plan.

Employers’ Action Plan

Employers that have not reviewed their workplace-safety and firearm policies since the McDaniels decision should consider taking the following steps:

1. Review the scope of existing policies

Policies should identify the locations in which firearms are prohibited and distinguish among:

• Company buildings and work areas;
• Customer-facing areas;
• Employee-only or restricted areas;
• Company-owned, leased, or rented vehicles;
• Private vehicles in employer parking lots;
• Properties subject to a statutory exception; and
• Locations in which firearm possession is independently restricted by law.

A policy should be carefully drafted to avoid overbroad prohibitions. For example, stating broadly that lawful open carry “does not apply on company property” may be misleading if “company property” would include parking lots protected by Florida law.

Instead, for instance, employers may want to consider language such as:

State law permitting open carry does not authorize employees, customers, or visitors to carry firearms in company buildings or other areas where the company prohibits firearms. Nothing in this policy is intended to restrict rights protected by applicable law, including the lawful storage of firearms in private vehicles in company parking lots where required by Florida law.

Employers should work with counsel to tailor policy language to their specific facilities, workforce, industry, and operating practices.

2. Audit signage and entrances

Employers should review the signs posted at their public and employee entrances. Although signage is not necessarily required to establish a private employer’s firearm policy, clear and conspicuous signs can provide advance notice, reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings, and promote consistent enforcement.

Employers should not assume that a generic “No Firearms” sign necessarily satisfies the statutory notice requirements for all types of property. Florida law distinguishes between trespass within a structure and trespass on other property, and it prescribes specific methods of providing notice for outdoor property.

Any sign intended to provide statutory notice, particularly for parking lots, grounds, construction areas, or other outdoor property, should be reviewed for compliance with the applicable requirements.

3. Update employee handbooks and workplace-violence policies

Employers can better protect their interests by establishing clear policies that set expectations regarding firearm possession, threatening conduct, workplace violence, and reporting procedures. Such policies could address:

• Where firearms are prohibited;
• The parking-lot protections required by Florida law;
• Whether particular facilities or operations fall within a statutory exception;
• The individuals to whom the policy applies;
• The process for reporting a concern;
• The disciplinary consequences of violating the policy; and
• The circumstances in which employees should contact management, security, or law enforcement.

4. Train managers and frontline employees

Training should be tailored to employees’ responsibilities.

Frontline employees should know:

• Not to touch or attempt to seize a firearm;
• Not to physically confront or detain an armed individual;
• Whom to contact for assistance;
• When to disengage and move to a safe location; and
• When to contact emergency services.

Managers and security personnel should receive additional training on:

• Communicating the company’s policy;
• Making a clear and professional request for compliance;
• Directing an individual to leave when appropriate;
• Documenting the incident;
• Preserving available video or witness information;
• Coordinating with law enforcement; and
• Avoiding unauthorized inquiries or searches of private vehicles.

5. Review HR and security protocols

Human resources personnel, hiring managers, and onsite security should be familiar with Florida’s parking-lot protections and avoid firearm-related questions or vehicle searches that could run afoul of the statute.

Employers also should review whether their existing procedures adequately address:

• Reports that an employee has a firearm in a private vehicle;
• Reports of a firearm inside a company building;
• Visible firearms carried by customers or vendors;
• Threatening or intimidating conduct;
• Emergency communications;
• Building lockdown or evacuation procedures; and
• Coordination among management, human resources, security, and law enforcement.

Takeaway

Florida’s open carry landscape may have changed, but private employers generally retain the ability to establish reasonable firearm restrictions in their workplaces. Employers’ critical task is drawing those restrictions carefully, particularly around parking lots, company vehicles, public-facing operations, alcohol-service areas, and statutory exceptions and training employees to enforce them safely and consistently.

Employers should review their policies and practices based on their particular properties and operations. A policy suitable for a traditional office may not adequately address the operational realities of a hotel, restaurant, retail establishment, healthcare facility, manufacturing site, or business operating on federally regulated property.

Florida’s intersection of firearm rights, private-property rights, and workplace-safety responsibilities continues to create complex issues for businesses. If you need assistance updating your workplace policies, reviewing your physical premises, or training your management team, please contact your Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss your specific operational needs.