Armed Citizens Spark Controversy With ‘Open Carry Audit’ at Florida State University

Florida’s gun laws shifted this fall, and Tallahassee felt it almost immediately.

As deputy news editor Adalyn Pickett reported for the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the First District Court of Appeal ruled on September 10 that Florida’s 2023 open-carry ban was unconstitutional. 

Since September 25, open carry without a permit has been legal in most public spaces, with familiar carve-outs for “sensitive places” such as police stations, courthouses, polling sites, government meetings, athletic events, schools, colleges, universities, and bars.

Pickett added an on-the-ground wrinkle you don’t often see in national coverage: private property owners still set their own terms, but Publix specifically signaled it would not refuse service to customers who are openly carrying. 

That’s the environment in which a small “Second Amendment audit” unfolded just off Florida State University’s campus.

The Audit: Cameras Rolling, Rifles Visible

According to Pickett’s reporting, two self-described “Second Amendment auditors” chose the College Town neighborhood adjacent to FSU for a highly visible walk just after 6 p.m. on October 15.

One participant carried two firearms, including an AR-15, and wore a Hawaiian shirt with a tactical vest. The other filmed the encounter for a 50-minute livestream on the YouTube channel TheRealPressNHNow, narrating the walk and answering viewer questions in real time.

Pickett notes the pair did not step onto university property. That detail matters, because FSU remains a firearm-prohibited location under the newly clarified rules. 

FSU Police Chief Jason Trumbower told the FSView that officers “appropriately monitored to ensure all state and federal laws were followed,” emphasizing that open carry is illegal on university property but allowed in some areas immediately adjacent to campus.

On the stream, the recording participant said open carry “deters crime” by forcing would-be offenders to second-guess. He also told viewers he was “not too sure” about carrying on campus and didn’t feel it was necessary. 

He claimed passing officers waved and gave a thumbs-up; Pickett notes there’s no footage confirming that specific interaction.

Guns & Gadgets: Are Audits Hurting Or Helping?

Gun-rights commentator Jared Yanis, host of Guns & Gadgets, took up the same incident to ask a bigger question: do open carry audits help normalize a right, or do they simply give critics ammunition?

Yanis recapped the legal backdrop almost point-for-point with Pickett – open carry now legal in most spaces since September 25, colleges and bars still off-limits, private property owners in control – and then leaned into the philosophy. 

In his view, these audits expose whether police respect lawful carry and whether the public has been conditioned to fear a constitutional right.

He’s candid about his own evolution. For years he disliked First and Second Amendment “audits,” which he saw as baiting officials into error. Now, after more than a decade covering gun policy, he says he sees their value: they force clarity, test training, and keep rights alive in public, not just on paper.

Yanis also argues that “to bear” means to carry – openly if one chooses – and that normalizing responsible, peaceful open carry is part of restoring the Second Amendment’s everyday meaning. 

Agree or not, he frames the FSU moment as a civic stress test: can a community tolerate the visible exercise of a lawful right, or will it panic?

Community Shock, Trauma, And Timing

Pickett’s story also captures the atmosphere around campus – and it’s tense. Parents and students are still processing the April 17 mass shooting that rocked the community earlier this year. 

Against that backdrop, the sight of a man in a tactical vest with an AR-15, even off campus and acting lawfully, landed like a gut punch.

Parent Gena Ancona told the FSView she supports the Second Amendment, but found this “poorly timed and ignorant of recent events.” 

She called for stronger security and “common-sense gun regulations” to protect students and educators and pointed to a September petition for more campus safety that gathered over a thousand signatures.

Criminologist Gary Kleck – an FSU professor and longtime researcher of gun policy – told Pickett the demonstration could be “harmful” to public opinion precisely because it’s rare and visually striking. Seeing someone openly armed in a grocery store, he warned, will shock many Floridians even when legal, and rarity makes every encounter a headline.

He also flagged a practical friction point for police. With permitless carry and now open carry in most places, officers “don’t have any foundation” to stop someone merely for carrying. 

That can mean more long-distance monitoring and fewer lawful pretexts for initiating contact – an operational shift that makes some in the community uneasy.

Audrey Casserleigh, a professor in FSU’s Emergency Management and Homeland Security program, pressed further. In her comments to the FSView, she worried that wider open carry paired with polarized messaging can create a “formula for vigilante violence.” 

Whether one agrees with that prognosis, it’s a view many campus stakeholders share when fear is high.

The Symbolism Problem: Shirts, Signals, And Assumptions

Pickett also notes the Hawaiian shirt and tactical vest worn by one participant resembled attire associated with the Boogaloo movement, a loosely organized, anti-government subculture that has surfaced at some gun-rights events. 

The demonstrators never claimed any affiliation. Still, optics matter, and the visual cue alone primed some bystanders to assume the worst.

This is where rights and rhetoric collide. Yanis argues that responsible open carry should be normalized, like free speech in a town square. 

In practice, dress and demeanor can change the whole reading. A polo and a holstered sidearm reads differently than an AR-15, a vest, and a shirt tied to a controversial subculture – even if the carrier is calm and compliant.

My view: if the goal is to test police restraint and educate the public, it’s worth considering the presentation. Calm voice, non-confrontational tone, clear separation from campus property, and overt friendliness can reduce the ambient fear without diluting the point. Rights don’t need permission, but persuasion is still a useful tool.

Are Audits Net-Positive? It Depends On What You Measure

So do these events help or hurt? Pickett’s reporting shows they galvanize opposition, especially among traumatized communities. They can also produce calls for new restrictions or “sensitive place” expansions. If the metric is public favorability, high-visibility rifles near a campus likely grade out poorly.

Yanis is measuring something else: institutional behavior. He wants to see whether police follow the law when the law is uncomfortable. 

On that score, this walk stayed peaceful, officers monitored from a distance, and there were no arrests or confrontations. That’s a quiet win for training, restraint, and rule-of-law culture.

There’s a third metric that often gets ignored – literacy. Pickett’s piece, anchored in local sources and clear timelines, taught readers exactly what changed on September 25 and what didn’t. Yanis’s breakdown, delivered to a huge gun-rights audience, reinforced those specifics and urged responsible engagement. In a state adjusting to a new normal, that’s real value.

What Florida Should Watch Next

Three threads are worth tracking.

First, “sensitive places” will be litigated and legislated. Universities are clearly off-limits today, but adjacent areas can be emotional battlegrounds. Cities and schools may test signage, policing posture, and community messaging to discourage lawful carry nearby. Courts will have the final word.

Second, police protocols will evolve. As Kleck noted, fewer pretexts mean more observation and post-incident investigation. Agencies will need to reinforce when a stop is justified, how to respond to calls of “man with a gun” when the man is simply lawful, and how to de-escalate when fear is driving the complaint.

Third, culture will adapt. If lawful open carry becomes a regular sight, today’s shock may fade. If most visible carriers choose low-key presentation, trust might grow faster. If every audit looks like a provocation, backlash will harden. Citizens shape that curve as much as lawmakers do.

A Right In Practice, A Community In Recovery

Adalyn Pickett documented a lawful but jarring demonstration that hit a still-healing campus at a raw moment. She captured parents’ fear, professors’ warnings, and police restraint with welcome nuance.

Jared Yanis challenged his own audience to think bigger than headlines – asking whether visible, peaceful carry can normalize a right many have been taught to fear. 

He says audits impose accountability and keep the Second Amendment alive in the open, not hidden away.

Both perspectives matter. Florida now lives with a broader right to bear arms in public. Exercising it responsibly – and reporting on it fairly – will determine whether the next encounter is another panic or just another Tuesday.

In the meantime, one lesson feels safe to draw. Rights gain staying power when they’re used with judgment. 

And in a city still grieving, judgment includes not just what’s lawful, but what lowers the temperature while the public catches up to the law.

For additional information, check out the FSView & Florida Flambeau article here and the Guns & Gadgets video here.

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The article Armed Citizens Spark Controversy With ‘Open Carry Audit’ at Florida State University first appeared on Survival World.