ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — The First District Court of Appeals formally struck down Florida’s open-carry gun ban as unconstitutional Wednesday. The three-judge panel included Judge Stephanie Ray, who wrote the opinion, as well as Judges Lori Rowe and M. Kemmerly Thomas. 

The judges ruled that Florida Statute Section 790.053 cannot be reconciled with the Second Amendment’s protection of the right to bear arms, and argued that the State had not met the burden of proofing that the open-carry ban was in keeping with the ideals presented in the Bill of Rights.

“Because the Second Amendment’s plain text encompasses the open carrying of firearms in public, that conduct is presumptively protected by the Constitution. The State therefore bears the heavy burden of establishing a relevant historical tradition of firearms regulation that justifies its prohibition,” The judges wrote in their opinion.

The judges went on to write that it is difficult for the state to distinguish between open and concealed carry without, “disregarding both the Court’s originalist framework and our Nation’s historical tradition.”

According to the ruling, the state’s current open-carry gun ban is declared unconstitutional and is struck down as a result of the decision.

“The Constitution protects the right to carry arms openly for self-defense. Florida’s Open Carry Ban cannot be reconciled with that guarantee. Section 790.053, Florida Statutes, is therefore declared unconstitutional. We answer the certified question in the affirmative, reverse McDaniels’s conviction, and vacate his sentence,” the judges wrote in the opinion.

The next step for the state would be to appeal the decision if state Attorney General James Uthmeier chooses to do so. That would put the question before the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Uthmeier reacted to the decision on X, saying that his office fully supported the decision, calling the move a “big win” for the Second Amendment rights of Floridians.

However, Uthmeier has mentioned in the past that he did not plan to defend a different question about a different age-related ban on long-gun purchases, according to a court filing by Uthmeier in August in support of an appeal brought by the National Rifle Association.

In it, Uthmeier says that he believes the state’s ban on rifle and long gun purchases by any person under the age of 21 is unconstitutional.

The filing argued that a federal appeals court was in error when it upheld the state law.

In the filing, Uthmeier cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that established regulations on firearms must be in line with the United States’ “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also said he supported the court’s ruling.

Uthmeier argued that because 18- to 20-year-olds were entrusted to own firearms going back to the 18th century, a ban on their ownership now would be out of line with that historical tradition.

The attorney general’s filing made a further argument that under the current law, teens are left unable to protect themselves from potential violence.

“To be sure, some young adults may be able to borrow a firearm from a parent or other older adult. But the exercise of a vaunted constitutional right should not depend on that chance,” he wrote in the filing.