Floridas attorney general is telling law enforcement and prosecutors to stop enforcing the states decades-old ban on openly carrying firearms, after a court ruling declared the prohibition unconstitutional.

In a letter sent Monday, Attorney General James Uthmeier said the

decision by the First District Court of Appeal means no Florida court will any longer be empowered to convict a defendant under the ban, and that his office will no longer defend such prosecutions.

Prudence counsels that prosecutors and law enforcement personnel should likewise refrain from arresting or prosecuting law-abiding citizens carrying a firearm in a manner that is visible to others, Uthmeier wrote.

Court Decision

The guidance follows a unanimous ruling last week that struck down the 1987 open-carry statute,

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