A Florida appeals court on Wednesday rule that the state's ban on open carrying firearms was unconstitutional. File Photo UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo
Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A Florida appeals court has ruled that the state's ban on adults openly carrying firearms in public is unconstitutional, handing gun rights activists a victory.
The three-judge panel of the First District Court of Appeal for the State of Florida issued its ruling Wednesday, stating the decades-old law was in violation of the Constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms.
"No historical tradition supports Florida's Open Carry Ban. To the contrary, history confirms that the right to bear arms in public necessarily includes the right to do so openly," Judge Stephanie Ray wrote in the court's ruling.
"That is not to say that open carry is absolute or immune from reasonable regulation. But what the State may not do is extinguish the right altogether for ordinary, law-abiding adult citizens."
