Florida Won't Defend Bump-Stock Law

Florida's top prosecutor just told the state's own gun-control law to go pound sand.

Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a formal legal opinion on November 13, 2026, concluding that Florida's bump-stock ban under Fla. Stat. § 790.222 violates the Second Amendment — and announced his office will no longer defend convictions obtained under it.

State of play: The law dates back to 2018, tucked into the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act passed after the Parkland shooting. It makes importing, selling, transferring, or possessing a "bump-fire stock" a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison. Florida lawmakers wrote the definition broadly — covering any conversion kit, tool, accessory, or device that increases a firearm's rate of fire beyond what's possible without it. That language sweeps in forced reset triggers and other trigger enhancements that have nothing to do with the devices used in the Las Vegas shooting that originally spooked lawmakers nationwide.

Uthmeier's opinion leans hard on New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which requires the government to point to a historical tradition of regulation before it can restrict conduct covered by the Second Amendment's text. His conclusion: semiautomatic firearms fitted with bump stocks are "bearable arms" under the plain text, and "no identifiable historical tradition justifies prohibiting their possession and use by law-abiding citizens for sporting, defensive, or other lawful purposes."

He also cites Garland v. Cargill, the 2024 Supreme Court decision that struck down ATF's rule treating bump stocks as machine guns, since the trigger still functions once per shot. That case was about federal statutory definitions, not the Second Amendment directly — but Uthmeier uses it to reinforce that states can't dodge constitutional review just by banning accessories they find politically distasteful.

"Section 790.222 therefore violates the Second Amendment and cannot be lawfully enforced by Executive Branch officials in Florida. This Office will not defend a conviction under section 790.222."

The intrigue: An opinion from the Attorney General doesn't erase a statute. Florida's own policy on AG opinions makes clear they're advisory, not binding on courts. The law stays on the books — and local prosecutors aren't required to follow Uthmeier's lead — until the Legislature repeals § 790.222 or a court strikes it down. That means Floridians can still, in theory, be arrested under a law the state's chief legal officer has publicly called unconstitutional.

Yes, but: Refusing to defend convictions on appeal is a real constraint. If prosecutors can't count on the AG's office to back them up when a case gets challenged, bump-stock prosecutions become a lot riskier to bring in the first place. That's likely to chill new charges even without a formal repeal.

What to watch: Whether Florida lawmakers move to repeal § 790.222 outright, and whether any pending prosecutions get dropped or challenged using Uthmeier's opinion as ammunition. Other states with similar bump-stock bans — there are roughly a dozen — will be watching Florida's next move closely, since a state AG abandoning defense of a gun law is an unusual, and potentially contagious, position.

The bottom line: Florida's bump-stock ban is still technically law, but its own enforcer just said he won't defend it in court. That's as close to a dead statute as you get without a legislature or judge pulling the trigger.