FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — In a major Second Amendment ruling, Broward County Circuit Judge Frank Ledee has declared Florida Statute §790.01 unconstitutional as applied to adults aged 18 to 20, dismissing a concealed carry charge against a 19-year-old defendant.
The decision, issued October 24, 2025, found that Florida’s concealed carry prohibition for those under 21 violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling stems from the case State of Florida v. Joel Walkes, where the defendant was charged with carrying a concealed firearm, a third-degree felony under Florida law.
Walkes, who was 19 at the time of his March 2025 arrest, was found with a loaded semi-automatic pistol while waiting in a disabled vehicle. His defense argued that as a legal adult, he was entitled to the same constitutional rights as older citizens, including the right to bear arms for self-defense.
Florida law currently permits permitless concealed carry only for individuals aged 21 and older. The State argued this age restriction aligns with historical regulations treating 18-to-20-year-olds differently from full adults regarding firearm access. The prosecution cited 19th-century laws restricting firearm sales to those under 21, as well as the Eleventh Circuit’s recent decision in National Rifle Association v. Bondi (2025), which upheld similar restrictions.
Judge Ledee disagreed, applying the Supreme Court’s Bruen framework requiring firearm regulations to be consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of gun laws. He concluded the State failed to identify any founding-era precedent broadly prohibiting 18-to-20-year-olds from carrying firearms.
“The State has failed to identify Founding-era law that broadly prohibited the concealed carry of firearms by eighteen-to-twenty-year olds,” the order states. “Florida’s concealed carry ban as applied to eighteen-to-twenty-year olds effectively nullifies the age group’s ability to exercise their constitutionally protected right to self-defense.”
The court further noted inconsistencies in Florida’s firearm framework, which allows 18-to-20-year-olds to legally possess firearms obtained as gifts or through inheritance, yet criminalizes carrying them for personal protection.
Judge Ledee ultimately ruled that Florida’s restriction “strips a class of legal adults of their ability to exercise the very right the Constitution guarantees.” The decision dismisses the charge against Walkes and may set the stage for further appellate review given its potential statewide implications.
This ruling follows a growing number of judicial challenges to age-based firearm restrictions across the United States in the wake of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022).
If upheld, the decision could expand the rights of 18-to-20-year-old Floridians to carry concealed firearms without a permit, aligning them with adults 21 and older under Florida’s 2023 permitless carry law.
This decision underscores an ongoing legal shift emphasizing that constitutional rights, including the right to bear arms, extend fully to all legal adults. While the State is expected to appeal, the ruling marks another victory for advocates of the Second Amendment in Florida.
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