Property owners can forbid firearms on their premises. Other details remain legally murky.
By Brice Claypoole
Original Air Date: September 26, 2025
Host: Open carry is now “the law of the state.” That’s according to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, after an appeals court struck down the state’s decades-old ban on visibly carrying firearms in public. Second Amendment advocates are hailing the ruling, while gun control groups are pushing for the ruling to be appealed. But what does it mean for Sarasota? For now: uncertainty. WSLR’s Brice Claypoole first talked with Carol Rescigno, President of the Sarasota chapter of Brady: United Against Gun Violence.
Photo by Lucio Eastman
Carol Rescigno: People probably don’t realize that we will be the 47th state to allow some form of open carry. It means that you or I can be walking in a park, walking down the street and see someone coming with a gun. People in Florida won’t be prepared for that, won’t know what’s going on unless they’re really up on the news.
BC: That’s Carol Rescigno, explaining what residents should expect now that open carry is legal in Florida. Private businesses, she notes, will be able to restrict people from carrying firearms onto their premises.
CR: Businesses will be able to say “no guns in my store,” “no guns in my business.”
BC: Rescigno recommends not carrying weapons in public at all.
CR: If you have a gun, I would leave it home, and I would leave it locked up. They don’t need to go out into public. Why do we need a gun in public?
BC: In a statement clarifying the current legal situation, Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said that open carry is prohibited in sensitive areas such as government meetings, courthouses and schools. Wells also pointed out that bringing a gun to a private property where it is prohibited by the owner may result in arrest for armed trespass.
Sheriff Rick Wells
“Private property owners such as grocery stores, retail stores, and restaurants have the right to prohibit open or concealed carry of firearms on their premises. They do not need to provide prior written notice and may verbally ask a person carrying a firearm to leave. If a person refuses to leave after being asked to do so, they commit the felony crime of armed trespass.”
BC: Still, at their meeting Wednesday, Sarasota County Commissioners announced a proactive approach to the safety of elected officials in the new landscape. Commissioners directed county staff to investigate potential safety measures at commission and advisory board meetings. They also approved a motion by Commissioner Tom Knight to ask the Sarasota County Legislative Delegation to introduce an amendment to state law so that members of local government boards can carry weapons into hearings. Knight, who formerly served as Sarasota Sheriff, explained his thinking at the meeting:
Former Sheriff – now County Commissioner – Tom Knight
Tom Knight: We have a lot of people in my time since 2009, for those who are here, we didn’t have deputies in this room. We started putting them in in 2010. Now we have two. I know people in local politics that didn’t carry guns with them. Now they carry guns with them. People in politics now have bodyguards with them, and it’s a sad situation to discuss. These two gentlemen sitting here today, they’re going to take care of us, but you know, that’s an extra expense on the sheriff’s office to have two people sit here with us every day.
And we thank—I thank—the sheriff for doing that for us, but I think that we need to ask our legislative body to look out for us down in the local levels. Why should I not have my gun? I have no problem defending myself. I’ve done it, and I’m pretty good at it.
BC: In an interview with WLSR News, Knight seemed to disagree with Sheriff Wells’ assessment of the legal situation regarding open carry.
TK: People are gonna be able to come into the chambers and people are going to be able to bring a rifle-style weapon in with them to a county commission or city commission chambers, which is not restricted under Florida statute, is that they can come in legally and carry an AR 15 or a rifle into our meetings.
BC: I had understood, even with the new open carry, that you are not allowed, as a private citizen, to carry a weapon into a public hearing. Is that—
TK: That’s why you have a lot of—
BC: Is that inaccurate?
TK: That’s inaccurate. That’s why you’re getting a lot of people speculating about things.
BC: In a follow-up interview, Knight said he was not disagreeing with Sheriff Wells but that the legal landscape was murky. He clarified that he was uncertain about the legality of people bringing firearms to meetings.
The Sarasota Sheriff’s office declined to comment for this story, citing legal uncertainty.
For WSLR News, this is Brice Claypoole.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.
