Florida Carry and GOA Just Sued Jacksonville Over Its Venue Disarmament

Edwards dated the report September 29, 2026, 9:31 a.m. Plaintiffs: Florida Carry, Gun Owners of America, and Gun Owners Foundation. Defendants named: the City of Jacksonville, Mayor Donna Deegan, and Sheriff T.K. Walters. The suit follows members running into what the groups call local firearm restrictions at Jacksonville venues, “some of which appear to be unwritten policies and practices.” Venues in the complaint as Edwards listed them: EverBank Stadium for a non-athletic event, the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts, and the Florida Theatre Building. The claim: at the time of those incidents the people involved were legally carrying, and they were still denied entry, told to disarm, or threatened with trespass. Uniformed law enforcement, the report says, was involved in multiple incidents. Not a one-off mix-up.

Florida’s preemption law already lists the sensitive places the legislature carved out — police stations, jails, courthouses, courtrooms, schools. Political subdivisions do not get to invent extra gun-free zones on other government property. Edwards cites Fla. Stat. 790.06(12)(a) on school, college, or professional athletic events: if there was no athletic event at EverBank when carriers were turned away, that statute does not save the city. Jacksonville is already in a separate civil case from Attorney General James Uthmeier over a City Hall gun-owner logbook. This filing is the venues. Sean Caranna of Florida Carry, Edwards notes, usually starts with letters. Here the city is in court.

A complaint is not an injunction. Deegan and Walters have not been ordered to do anything yet. The ask is to stop treating city entertainment property as a local gun ban. Until a judge moves, the door policy is still the door policy.