APPEALS COURT STRIKES DOWN FLORIDA LAW BLOCKING CONCEALED CARRY UNDER AGE 21

An appeals court has struck down a Florida law forbidding law-abiding adults from carrying a concealed gun until they turn 21, a prohibition that’s been on the books since 1987.

The ruling from the Fourth District Court of Appeal came as little surprise given that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, the state official charged with defending the law, openly opposed the prohibition and asked the appeals court to strike it down.

The ruling came after conflicting decisions in Broward courtrooms last year, one upholding the law and the other striking it down. The defendant in the case that upheld the law was Jaylen Eubanks, 20, who was arrested by Coral Springs Police in 2024 for possessing a concealed weapon.

Eubanks told police that he showed the weapon when he was approached in a threatening manner by two white men in a car. Eubanks told police he thought the men were going to run him over, and he showed the weapon to let them know he was not going to be an easy target, according to the probable cause affidavit filed when he was arrested.

His lawyer, Thomas Cottone, argued that Eubanks, 19 at the time of the incident, was an adult entitled to the same concealed-carry protection as every adult over age 21. Broward Circuit Judge Lorena Mastrarrigo ruled against him.

Six months later, Cottone made the same argument before Broward Circuit Judge Frank Ledee in the case of Joel Andrew Walkes, also 19 at the time he was accused of carrying a concealed weapon by Plantation police. Walkes was arrested in March 2025 when a Plantation police officer, responding to a report of a disabled vehicle, spotted the bulge in Walkes’ waistband. Walkes, who had no criminal record, admitted he had a gun. Ledee ruled in Walkes’ favor, setting up the conflict the appeals court just resolved.

“We find the statute in this case to be facially unconstitutional as to 18- to 20-year-olds because no set of circumstances exists … that would allow [them] to carry a concealed firearm,” the Fourth District ruling states. “The inability of law-abiding adults aged 18 to 20 to use concealed carry available to all law-abiding adults 21 and older would certainly classify as … an infringement of their Second Amendment rights.”

Cottone, now in private practice, said the ruling is a victory for the plain wording of the Second Amendment.

Legally, the state could appeal the ruling, but that would be up to Uthmeier, who has opposed the age restriction.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.