TAMPA, Fla. - The State Attorney's Office of the 13th Judicial Circuit has dropped pending charges for openly displaying a firearm. It comes after a Florida appeals court recently ruled that an open carry ban is unconstitutional.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier told prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to refrain from arresting or putting on trial "law-abiding citizens carrying a firearm in a manner that is visible to others" as Florida courts couldn’t convict such people.

The backstory:

Earlier this month, a panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal last week ruled that a longstanding ban was unconstitutional.

Uthmeier sent guidance to prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, but some had already stopped enforcing the open-carry ban after Wednesday’s opinion.

Uthmeie

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