Concealed carry in Florida as a Pennsylvanian

The linked website you posted answers all these questions. Yes, a PA license to carry lets you carry in FL, no additional paperwork... you're good to go.

You are also fine in all states between, except for Maryland and South Carolina. When passing through these states (if you must), don't stop if possible, and keep the gun unloaded, unaccessable, ammo separate... yadda yadda, same rules as transporting a gun in PA if you don't have a license to carry. In all the other states between PA and Fl, you can carry fully loaded on your hip.

Just be sure to read up on the different laws regarding concealed carry for each state that let's you. For example in PA you can carry into a bar, and even have a drink. In many other states, that's illegal. In PA unless it's Federal/K-12 school/court house property 'gun free zone' signs can be ignored, in other states they hold power of law. All these subtle nuances of the law are listed out on the linked web page for each state.

Yeah, I don't understand the whole concealed carry reciprocity politics myself... SC allows people from most other states to carry there with their home state permits. Then again, PA doesn't allow someone with a SC permit to carry in PA either, so maybe PA is the one who started this feud? I don't know, I just know I do my best to avoid states that insist my life is so worthless, that I shouldn't be allowed to protect myself with the most effective tool available to me via the United States Constitution. As a PA resident, that includes SC.

I should move to WV, lol. Looks like they have the most reciprocity of all the carry permits, adding NM, SC, NE, NV, and MN on their list, places where a PA resident isn't allowed to exercise their 2A rights.

orpington said:

This is actually for a coworker as I’ll never drive to Florida.

With a Pennsylvania concealed carry permit, can a Pennsylvania resident conceal carry in Pennsylvania?

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/?resident=PA&states[]=PA

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The link you posted, and this one, https://handgunlaw.us/ will give you the info you seek.

orpington said:

If so, which it appears, is additional paperwork necessary?

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No.

orpington said:

Presumably it would have to be locked in a glove campartmeny box in transit? Or locked elsewhere, like in the trunk?

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She can carry it loaded just as she normally would in all states on the way, except SC. While in SC, she would need to meet FOPA transportation requirements.

orpington said:

What happens if, on the way down or back, she gets (unlikely however) detoured into Nee Jersey?

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That depends on a variety of things, including, but not limited to, the gun, how long she's there, whether or not she stops and whether she gets caught. It's legal, per FOPA, for her to "travel" through NJ with any gun she pleases, as long as the gun is legal where she came from and where she's going. That does not mean that she won't get arrested, go to jail and/or incur lawyer fees.

Ethan Verity said:

SC allows people from most other states to carry there

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Actually, there are 20 states whose permits SC does not recognize.
https://www.sled.sc.gov/cwp#WhatStates

You forgot about Delaware, Maryland and Washington DC. Neither recognize PA permits.

I believe that one time PA and SC had a reciprocal agreement. Not anymore.

I live in PA just 4 miles north of the border with DE. PA has a 6% sales tax on everything except food and clothing. DE has no sales tax so I shop there often. DE does not honor PA permits so I got a AZ non-resident permit, which DE does honor. A trip to FL would be a hassle in SC because it only honors resident permits. DC is another issue. It doesn’t honor either of my permits, and the only way I can bypass DC is to go through MD, but MD does not honor my permits. Since I don’t want the hassle of being forced to rely on federal law for state drive through I have come up with a solution. I just stopped going to FL and other states south of Delaware.

I usually vacation in NH in summer. I have to drive through NJ, NY, CT, MA, and none of those states honors my permits. So when I go to NH I drive the 350 miles with the guns and ammo styled properly. I do not stop except for a pit stop half way.

I really would like to see national reciprocity enacted. I doubt that will happen.

Small world.... I used to live in Brookhaven, PA. Purchased many a firearm at "Target Master" in Chadd's Ford. Deer and groundhog hunting in Lancaster County, (Kirkwood and Quarryville).

Made the move to Florida in 2003 after retiring. When I decided that I still needed to deer hunt, I would drive to Fredricksburg, Va, unload my carry piece, place pistol and magazine in a locked box, no hollow points. Leave at 2:00AM, when I cross the border Maryland and Delaware, I would stop at the Newark service plaza, load my carry piece again. Heading back to Florida, unloaded and locked until I got to Virginia.

Shanvanvocht said:

Actually, there are 20 states whose permits SC does not recognize.
https://www.sled.sc.gov/cwp#WhatStates

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That's still 30 which they do.

orpington said:

With a Pennsylvania concealed carry permit, can a Pennsylvania resident conceal carry in Pennsylvania?

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You lost me on the second line???

There is a difference in the firearms carry laws between Florida and PA that your coworker should be aware of. A PA permit is a "License to Carry Firearms" which allows either open or concealed carry. A Florida "Concealed Carry" permit means exactly that. At the moment, open carry is illegal in Florida.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes...ute&URL=0700-0799/0790/Sections/0790.053.html

There is a bill currently moving through the Florida legislature (passed in the House yesterday) that would allow permitless carry. Apparently an amendment to also allow open carry was removed at the last minute.

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2023/03/24/florida-house-set-to-vote-on-permitless-carry-bill#:~:text=— The Florida House voted Friday,without a license or training.

ETA: This is the incident that I was thinking of that led me to post:

https://www.thescore.com/nfl/news/678816

Maybe that statute was amended since this happened as it states a temporary accidental display is not breaking the law.

Laphroaig said:

There is a difference in the firearms carry laws between Florida and PA that your coworker should be aware of. A PA permit is a "License to Carry Firearms" which allows either open or concealed carry. A Florida "Concealed Carry" permit means exactly that. At the moment, open carry is illegal in Florida.
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In PA, you can open carry without a permit. The permit is just needed for concealed carry. Though PA law says if the gun is inside of your car, even if still plainly visible on your hip, it is now considered "concealed" so without a permit you won't be able to open carry very far. Unless you want to deal with loading/unloading your gun in the parking lot.

While you can open carry in Pa without a permit there is an exception in Philadelphia, in Philly you need a permit to open carry.

Laphroaig said:

Maybe that statute was amended since this happened as it states a temporary accidental display is not breaking the law.

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Florida allows for an inadvertent flash of a concealed weapon without penalty, but does not allow open carry.


Similar language has been inserted into the permitless carry bill currently under review by the Florida Senate.

Laphroaig said:

ETA: This is the incident that I was thinking of that led me to post:

https://www.thescore.com/nfl/news/678816

Maybe that statute was amended since this happened as it states a temporary accidental display is not breaking the law.

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I still wouldn't trust that statute. It's not like brief and openly is defined. A few years back, there was a guy in Fort Pierce arrested for accidental open carry and appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. Denied cert.

That's the one reason I wish we had open carry.

Pa license I have one for 20 years now, is a license to carry firearms. You need it in Pa to carry open or concealed. The only exception I know of is Hunting where if you have a hunting license and are in the field you can open carry a pistol.

Regarding New Jersey, possession of certain ammunition is a crime also:

"Question: I’m not a police officer, are hollow points legal for me to possess? Answer: Yes. They are legal for purchase and possess in your home or on land owned by you. They are legal to possess and use at a gun range. They are also legal to possess while traveling to and from such places. Ammunition lacking a hollow cavity at the tip, such as those with a polymer filling, are not considered to be hollow point ammunition. An example of this can be seen with the Hornady Critical Defense / Critical Duty, Cor-Bon PowRball / Glaser Safety Slug and Nosler Inc. Defense ammunition."

Master Blaster said:

Pa license I have one for 20 years now, is a license to carry firearms. You need it in Pa to carry open or concealed. The only exception I know of is Hunting where if you have a hunting license and are in the field you can open carry a pistol.

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Any non-prohibited adult can open carry in PA without a license, resident or not. Concealed requires a license. Philly is an exception and requires a license for open or concealed.

jobu07 said:

Any non-prohibited adult can open carry in PA without a license, resident or not. Concealed requires a license. Philly is an exception and requires a license for open or concealed.

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One giant caveat to that is that you can't open carry in a vehicle without a permit.

bearcreek said:

One giant caveat to that is that you can't open carry in a vehicle without a permit.

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Excellent point of clarification. It was a miss on my part, not an omission of fact.

orpington said:

With a Pennsylvania concealed carry permit, can a Pennsylvania resident conceal carry in Florida?

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In July, absolutely, as the reciprocity will no longer be required. The PA permit may not be required, if a person meets the FL rules for permit-less (again, just maybe).