Florida
Permanent URL for this collectionhttps://dspace.firearmsresearchcenter.org/id/frc0001/3493
Florida
This jurisdictional hub aggregates FRC holdings related to Florida. It supports research on the state’s firearms history, technology, law, policy, and culture from the Spanish and British colonial periods through territorial years, statehood, and the present.
- Legal sources: statutes and session laws, administrative code, attorney general opinions, appellate decisions, and select municipal ordinances.
- Historical materials: newspapers, photographs, maps, catalogs, military and maritime records, and oral histories tied to Florida people and places.
- Research outputs: technical reports, academic studies, training manuals, and curated datasets relevant to the state.
Cite the Firearms Research Center and the item’s handle/DOI when using materials. Rights and licensing vary by item.
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Item type:Item, Compilation of the Ordinances of the City of St. Augustine 53 (1884)(1878-04-28)Imposed a $25 license tax on dealers of pistols, bowie-knives, and dirks.Item type:Item, Leslie A. Thompson, A Manual or Digest of the Statute Law of the State of Florida 498 (1847)(1832)Act of Jan. 5, 1847, Ch. 75, § 3: Prohibited concealed carry of any dirk, pistol, or other arm or weapon. Violators fined not less than five dollars not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not less than ten days nor exceeding six months.Item type:Item, Fla. Const. of 1838, art. I, § 21(1838)Provided a right to keep and bear arms for "the free white men of this State."Item type:Item, 1833 Fla. Terr. Acts 26, 30(1833)Act of Feb. 17, 1833, ch. 671: Declared a duty of white patrols to search "negro houses or other suspected places for firearms. Violators punished by whipping, not to exceed thirty-nine strikes.Item type:Item, An Act to prevent any person in this Territory from carrying arms secretly, in Compilation of the Public Acts of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida, Passed Prior to 1840, at 316 (John P. Duval ed., 1839)(1835)Prohibited the concealed carry of arms of any kind whatsoever. Also prohibited the carry of any dirk, pistol, or other arm, or weapon.Item type:Item, 1838 Fla. Terr. Acts 70(1838)An Act To Incorporate the City of Key West, § 8: Granted the common council of Key West the authority to regulate the safe storage of gun powder.Item type:Item, 1838 Fla. Terr. Acts 36(1838)Ch. 24: Required prospective vendors of dirks, pocket pistols, sword canes, or Bowie knives to pay an annual two-hundred dollar tax. Individuals who wish to carry the previously listed weapons are required to pay a ten dollar tax.Item type:Item, 1828 Fla. Terr. Acts 24(1828)An Act To Prevent Fire Hunting: Prohibited hunting by fire light in the night time with a gun or other firearms and not on one's own private property. Violators fined not exceeding twenty-five dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding one month at discretion of the court.Item type:Item, An Act to prevent Indians from roaming at large through the Territory, in Compilation of the Public Acts of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida, Passed Prior to 1840, at 46 (John P. Duval ed., 1839)(1827)Prohibited any male "Indian" of the years of discretion to leave the reservation assigned to his tribe. Allowed any person or persons to apprehend, seize, and take said "Indian" to some justice of the peace who is "hereby authorized ipowerd, and required" to whip the "Indian" not exceeding thirty-nine stripes. Any gun in possession at the time of apprehension shall be taken and deposited with the authorities.Item type:Item, 1831 Fla. Terr. Acts 30(1831)Act of Jan. 31, 1831: Barred any "free negro or mulatto" from keeping or carrying a firelock, or military or other weapons, powder, or lead without obtaining a license. Licenses may be withdrawn at any time.Item type:Item, An Act relating to Crimes and Misdemeanors Committed by Slaves, Free Negroes, and Mulattoes, in Compilation of the Public Acts of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida, Passed Prior to 1840, at 227 (John P. Duval ed., 1839)(1828)Prohibited "any slave" from willfully or maliciously shooting any free white person with a gun.Item type:Item, A Digest of the Laws of the State of Florida: From the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty-Two, to the Eleventh Day of March, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-One, Inclusive, at 403 (James F. McClellan ed.,1881)(1868)Offences Against Public Peace, § 13 (Fla. Act of Aug. 6, 1868, ch. 1637): Prohibited the carrying "about or on their person" any dirk, pistol or other arm or weapon, except a "common pocket knife." Punishable by fine up to $100 or imprisonment up to 6 months.Item type:Item, Fla. Act of Aug. 8, 1868, as codified in Fla. Rev. Stat., tit. 2, pt. 5, at 2425 (1892)(1868)Prohibited the manufacture or sale of slungshots or metallic knuckles. Punishable by imprisonment for up to 6 months or a fine up to $100.Item type:Item, 1893 Fla. Laws 51-52(1868)Prohibited carrying concealed weapons, except common pocket knives, and imposed penalties for possessing dangerous weapons while committing offenses. It also criminalized manufacturing or selling slung shots and metallic knuckles, while repealing a prior weapons provision.Item type:Item, 1865 Fla. Laws 23, 25-27(1866)This Act imposed significant restrictions on the possession and use of firearms and the formation of military organizations within the State. It prohibited individuals from forming, participating in, or assisting unauthorized military organizations, classifying such conduct as a misdemeanor and authorizing substantial penalties, including fines, imprisonment, pillory, and whipping. The Act imposed even greater potential penalties on individuals who accepted offices within such organizations, reflecting particular concern with organized or armed groups operating outside state authority. Separately, the Act prohibited hunting or ranging with a gun on another person's enclosed land without the permission of the owner, tenant, or person exercising control over the property. Violators were subject to the penalties prescribed by the preceding section. Together, these provisions demonstrate the Act's regulation of firearms not only as instruments of individual conduct on private property, but also as potential tools of organized military activity. The provisions therefore combined property-based restrictions on the use of guns with broad prohibitions on unauthorized armed organization, backed by severe and discretionary criminal penalties.Item type:Item, The Revised Statutes of the State of Florida 782-83 (W.A. Blount et al. eds., 1892)(1868)1868 Fla. Rev. Stat., tit. 2, art. 5, §§ 2421-2425: Prohibited carrying concealed weapons, except common pocket knives, punishable by up to six months’ imprisonment or a $100 fine. Those arrested while committing an offense or disturbing the peace who possess firearms or other dangerous weapons face up to one year’s imprisonment and a $50 fine. Officers were required to seize such weapons, which are forfeited upon conviction and returned upon acquittal. Moreover, manufacturing or selling slung-shots or metallic knuckles was punishable by up to six months’ imprisonment or a $100 fine.Item type:Item, 1852 Fla. Acts 137(1852)An Act To Prevent Fire Hunting in the County of St. Johns, ch. 558, § 1: Prohibited hunting by fire light in the night time with a gun or other firearms and not on one's own private property within the county of St. Johns. Violators fined not exceeding twenty-five dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding one month at discretion of the court.Item type:Item, Leslie A. Thompson, A Manual or Digest of the Statute Law of the State of Florida 547 (1847)(1827)Prohibited any male "Indian" from leaving the reservations. Allowed the confiscation of any guns in possession of violators. Violators also subject up to thirty-nine stripes from a whip at the discretion of the Justice.