Crossing into Georgia and Alabama as an informed carrier — whose permits count where, what changes at each line, what to do if you're stopped, and the best roads for the trip.
Sample cut from the edition whose sources were last read 2026-09-28
Short words used here. Reciprocity — One state honoring another state's carry license. It runs in two directions, and the two can differ. FDACS — the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which issues carry licenses. FAQ — a page of frequently asked questions. USS — United States Ship, the prefix of a Navy ship's name.
This sample gives you every chapter's short version, one chapter's full text (its stories stay in the book), and two of the book's 20 real-world examples. It's about 14% of the book.
Georgia and Alabama both honor a Florida license. Both also let some adults carry with no license at all, but on their own terms, not Florida's. Your right to carry without a license is a Florida right, and it stays in Florida. The ages change at the line. The banned places change. And near a school over there, the federal school-zone rule gives your Florida license no weight at all. Even near a school at home in Florida, it isn't confirmed that a Florida license meets the federal test. Here are the key points on one page.
You're at the last gas stop before the state line. Maybe it's I-75 north of Jennings, or I-10 west of Pensacola, and the sweet tea is still cold. Here's what to know before you roll across.
At every state line, the law you carry under changes. Your Florida license comes with you. Florida's rules don't.
Two stories at the end of this chapter show this short list at work: "Thanksgiving in Valdosta" and "Nineteen and headed for the beach". For the prettiest ways across, see Chapter 8, Common travel routes.
This is a summary of three states' laws, and federal law, as we read them on September 27 and 28, 2026. It's information and education, not legal advice. Laws change, and courts read them in ways no book can predict. Talk to an attorney licensed in the state you're visiting about your own situation.
Only one thing you carry in Florida is built to travel: a license. Florida's permitless carry, its open-carry position after 2025, and its car rules are all Florida law, and they stop at the line. By car, you're under the new state's law the moment you cross. By bus, Greyhound bans guns. By air or rail, you check the gun unloaded and locked, then follow the law where you land.
Seven questions, seven answers. Your Florida license is honored in Georgia at 21 (18 with the military exception) and in Alabama from 19. Without a license, you may carry in Georgia if you'd qualify for a Georgia license, which means 21 (18 with military service), and in Alabama from 19. Coming the other way, Florida honors a Georgia or Alabama resident's license at 21, and lets them carry without one at 21 if they meet Florida's standards. Servicemembers and honorably discharged veterans qualify at 18. The main places where nobody official has given an answer are Floridians aged 18 to 20 in Georgia, a Florida non-resident license in Georgia (yes on the statute's words, but don't rely on it if it's your only license), and visitors aged 18 to 20 in Florida.
Georgia's key phrase is "lawful weapons carrier." If you are one, you may carry almost anywhere not on its short list of banned places, which is in section 16-11-127(b) of the Georgia Code. That list is different from Florida's. There's no bar ban. Churches are off limits unless they say yes. Polling places have a 150-foot ring during elections. Government buildings are open unless security screens the door. Schools are a property line, not a distance, but federal law still adds 1,000 feet.
Alabama is permit-optional from age 19, and it honors your Florida license. Its differences are in the details. You need a license, or the owner's consent, to carry on private property that isn't yours. Whether a Florida license counts isn't confirmed, so ask the owner either way. Police stations, courthouses, guarded buildings and a few others are off limits. Athletic events are too, unless you hold a license, and even with one, the parking rule makes the careful course leaving the gun locked in the car. At police stations, courthouses, athletic events and guarded buildings, a gun left on the premises, parking lot included, stays locked in the car, out of sight. At a jail or prison, the whole premises is off limits. You can't have a gun at a demonstration. And brass or steel teflon-coated handgun ammunition is a felony to possess.
Defined in the full guide's glossary: Teflon-coated handgun ammunition (Alabama).
Federal law follows you across every line. Most of it is about places: federal buildings, post offices, Army Corps of Engineers lakes and military bases. The rule that needs the most planning is the federal school zone, because your Florida license doesn't help you near a school in Georgia or Alabama. And if you're passing through a state where you can't carry, federal safe passage only covers you if the gun is unloaded and both the gun and its ammunition are out of reach, and only between two places where you may lawfully have it.
In Georgia, we found no duty to tell an officer you're armed, and an officer may not hold you just to check your carry status. In Alabama, if you're carrying a concealed gun, on you or in the vehicle, you must say so right away if an officer asks. You also must not touch a loaded handgun in the car once an officer starts walking up, unless the officer tells you to. Breaking that is a Class A misdemeanor. We found no official advice for armed drivers from either state.
Eight ways across, from the fastest interstate to a two-lane road through the swamp. The easiest is I-75 to Valdosta. The prettiest is the beach road to Gulf Shores. The best food is up US-319 in Thomasville. The best family day is the Peanut Run to Dothan, and the best history is I-10 to Mobile. Every route carries a note on the carry rules you'll meet along the way.
Each state speaks for itself. In Florida, the licensing office is the agriculture department. In Georgia, the Attorney General and the Department of Public Safety publish the reciprocity list, and the legislature publishes the law. In Alabama, the Attorney General publishes the reciprocity list, and the Legislature's code portal has the law. Alabama's state police page on gun laws is out of date. Everything here was checked September 27 or 28, 2026.
From the examples at the end of Chapter 6
Ray, a Floridian with a Florida license, pulls off the highway in south Georgia for gas. The station sits across the street from an elementary school. He's carrying loaded on his hip.
On the gas station's lot, he's on private property that isn't part of the school grounds. The federal school-zone law's private-property exception covers him there. The public street in front of the school is another matter. There, within 1,000 feet of the school grounds, nothing covers a loaded gun. His Florida license isn't a Georgia license. He drove in on that street with the pistol loaded on his hip, so that stretch was outside every federal exception. Before he pulls back out, he unloads the pistol and locks it in the lockbox in his trunk. He reloads only after he's parked at his motel. Ray's new habit: unless he already knows the nearest school to his route, exits and stops is plainly far away, a mile or more, the pistol rides unloaded in the locked lockbox.
From the examples at the end of Chapter 8
Maria plans a history day for her two boys. First stop, the Naval Aviation Museum. She knows the base bans guns, even for permit holders, so she uses the storage business near the West Gate that the museum's FAQ page, navalaviationmuseum.org/museum-faqs, names, and picks the pistol up afterward. From there it rides unloaded in a locked case in the trunk, because she can't rule out schools along the way.
Then west on I-10 into Alabama. At Historic Blakeley State Park, she asks at the gate about firearms, because we couldn't find Alabama State Parks' rules. The USS Alabama's visit page publishes no firearms policy. Rather than guess, the pistol stays in its locked case in the car for that stop. The park's site, ussalabama.com, is the way to ask. The boys spend two hours in the submarine. Maria spends it glad she planned.
www.sneakypeteholsters.com/florida-regional-carry-guide/
Or search "Florida Regional Carry Guide" at www.sneakypeteholsters.com.