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In September 2025, a Florida appellate court overturned a long-standing state ban on the open carry of firearms. As our Florida local team considered how to cover this change in Florida’s gun policy, we realized that 2025 is also the 20th anniversary of the state’s stand your ground law.
We asked Harvard historian Caroline Light, who researches gun laws and policies across all 50 states, for her insights on how this combination of open carry and stand your ground might play out. She presents the evidence that Florida’s permissive gun laws, together with stand your ground, are “likely to make the Sunshine State far less safe.”
And lest anyone think this policy is limited to Florida, on the national stage, President Donald Trump has floated the idea of national reciprocity for gun laws, meaning every state would have to honor the laws of the most permissive states.
Light concludes that “the convergence of stand your ground, open carry and national reciprocity marks the culmination of a 20-year experiment in armed citizenship. The results are clear: more people armed, more shootings and more deaths ‘justified.’”
One last note: If you find our work valuable, please support us. Readers like you make it possible for us to bring you insightful articles like these. Thank you.
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Katie Flood
Contributing Editor
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As of September 2025, Florida allows open carry and permitless carry, in addition to its stand your ground law.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images News
Caroline Light, Harvard University
Evidence shows that 20 years on, Florida’s stand your ground law hasn’t made communities in the state any safer.
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