Criminal defense
Weapons charges in Florida
The enhancement is usually worse than the charge it attaches to
Most serious firearm exposure in Florida does not come from a weapons offense at all. It comes from Fla. Stat. § 775.087, which attaches to an underlying felony and imposes mandatory minimum terms — ten years for possessing a firearm during an enumerated felony, twenty for discharging one, and twenty-five to life where a discharge causes death or great bodily harm. Those are floors a judge cannot sentence below, and they frequently exceed what the underlying offense alone would carry.
01 Quick answers
- What is 10-20-Life?
- The mandatory minimums in § 775.087 for possessing, discharging, or causing death or great bodily harm with a firearm during an enumerated felony.
- Does it apply to any felony?
- No. It applies to a list of enumerated offenses, which is why what the underlying charge is matters as much as whether a firearm was present.
- Can a felon possess a firearm?
- No. Fla. Stat. § 790.23 makes it an offense for a person convicted of a felony to own or possess a firearm, and it reaches constructive possession.
- Do I need a permit to carry?
- Florida permits concealed carry without a license for eligible persons aged twenty-one or over. Eligibility is the whole question, and it excludes a great many people.
- Where can I not carry?
- Numerous places remain prohibited regardless of eligibility, including schools, courthouses, polling places and defined parts of airports.
- Is a knife a deadly weapon?
- It can be. The term is not limited to firearms, and whether an object qualifies depends on how it was used or threatened to be used.
02 The enhancement
Why 10-20-Life is the charge that matters
Section 775.087 is not a weapons offense. It is a sentencing provision that attaches to another felony, and it is where the real exposure in almost every armed case sits.
Possession of a firearm during the commission of an enumerated felony brings a ten-year mandatory minimum. Discharge brings twenty years. Discharge causing death or great bodily harm brings twenty-five years to life.
These are floors. A judge cannot go below them for any reason — not a clean record, not youth, not the circumstances, not remorse. The entire apparatus of mitigation that works on an ordinary sentence does nothing here.
Which felony the firearm attached to therefore decides everything. The enhancement reaches a list of enumerated offenses rather than every felony, so a negotiation about the underlying charge is frequently worth far more than any argument about the sentence. That is the central strategic fact in these cases and it is the reverse of how people instinctively approach them.
The enhancement is a floor. Every argument that softens an ordinary sentence does nothing against it.
03 Possession offenses
Who may not have a firearm, and what possession means
A person convicted of a felony may not own or possess a firearm under § 790.23. It is a second-degree felony, and it reaches constructive possession — a firearm in a shared home or a shared vehicle can support the charge where the person knew it was there and could control it.
That is how a great many of these cases arise. A firearm lawfully owned by a spouse, kept in a house where someone with a prior conviction lives, is a live legal problem for that person. It is worth sorting out before it is discovered rather than after.
A conviction for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence carries a separate federal firearms prohibition that does not expire with the sentence, and it applies regardless of Florida law.
Florida allows concealed carry without a license for eligible persons twenty-one and over. Eligibility is where the cases are: a prior conviction, a pending charge, an injunction, an adjudication of mental defectiveness and other categories remove it. Carrying while ineligible is an offense whatever the general rule permits.
Place restrictions survive the general rule. Schools, courthouses, polling places, and defined parts of airports remain prohibited, and those offenses are charged against people who believed the carry rule covered them everywhere.
04 What is contested
Where these cases are actually won
The search. Nearly every firearm case begins with a stop, a frisk or a search of a vehicle or a home. Whether there was a lawful basis for each step is the first question, and if the firearm is suppressed the enhancement attaches to nothing.
Possession. Where a firearm was in a car with several occupants, or in a shared residence, the State has to connect it to a particular person. Proximity is not possession. Fingerprints, DNA, ownership records, messages and what was said at the scene are what do the connecting.
Whether it was a firearm. The statute has definitions, and whether a particular object meets them — an antique, a replica, an inoperable item — is a question of evidence and sometimes of expert testimony.
Whether it was discharged, and by whom. The step from ten years to twenty turns on it, and in a chaotic scene with more than one person present that is frequently a genuine question rather than a formality.
The underlying felony. Because the enhancement only attaches to enumerated offenses, the most valuable work is often on the charge rather than on the firearm.
05 What follows
Rights, records and status
A felony conviction removes firearm rights and restoring them in Florida is a separate, slow process through clemency with its own waiting periods and its own discretion. It is not automatic and it is not quick.
The record. Sealing requires a withheld adjudication, and the enhancement provisions themselves foreclose that in cases where a mandatory minimum is imposed.
Immigration. A firearms offense is its own removal ground in federal immigration law, separate from any crime of violence or moral turpitude analysis. For anyone who is not a United States citizen, a weapons charge is among the more damaging things on a record, and the consequence attaches at the plea.
Employment. Any work requiring a firearm, a security license or federal clearance treats these convictions as disqualifying rather than as a factor, which makes the distinction between charges worth far more than the difference in probation.
06 The statutes
- Fla. Stat. § 775.087 Possession or use of a weapon The 10-20-Life mandatory minimums and the enumerated felonies they attach to.
- Fla. Stat. § 790.23 Felons in possession The prohibition, and how constructive possession reaches a shared home or vehicle.
- Fla. Stat. § 790.01 Carrying a concealed weapon The carrying offenses and the eligibility conditions behind lawful carry.
- Fla. Stat. § 790.06 Licenses and prohibited places The places where carrying remains prohibited regardless of eligibility.
Weapons charges questions, answered
The gun was legal and it was not even mine.
Lawful ownership by someone else does not resolve the charge where the allegation is that you possessed it. Constructive possession reaches a firearm you knew about and could control, which is how shared homes and shared cars produce these cases.
What defeats it is the absence of a connection beyond being nearby — and that is an evidence question worth testing.
I never fired it. Does the enhancement still apply?
Possession of a firearm during an enumerated felony carries its own mandatory minimum without any discharge. Discharge raises it further. So yes, and the distinction between the tiers is one of the most valuable things to contest.
I have an old felony from another state.
It generally still prohibits possession here, and the analysis depends on the offense and on whether rights were ever restored. If there is a firearm in the home, this needs sorting out now rather than when it is found.
I thought I could carry without a permit.
Eligible persons twenty-one and over may carry concealed without a license, but eligibility excludes a great many people and place restrictions apply regardless. Both are where the charges come from.
Can I get my rights back?
Restoration in Florida runs through clemency, with waiting periods and discretion rather than entitlement. It is a real route and a slow one, and it is separate from sealing a record.
What does this cost?
Handled on a flat fee set by the charges and the scope, with no payment plans. A case carrying a mandatory minimum has a different scope from a simple possession case, because suppression and the underlying charge are where the work goes.
Criminal matters are handled on a flat fee, set by the charges and the scope of the representation. Any consultation charge is disclosed before the appointment. There are no payment plans.
07 Keep reading
Talk to Jose A. Dapena about your weapons charges matter
You speak with the attorney who would handle the case, not an intake department. Practicing in Florida since 1998, Florida Bar number 152358.
Criminal matters are handled on a flat fee, set by the charges and the scope of the representation. Any consultation charge is disclosed before the appointment. There are no payment plans.