250.43 Wearing of uniform and insignia of rank; penalty.—
(1) The uniform or insignia of rank worn by officers of the Florida National Guard shall be worn only by persons entitled thereto by commission under the laws of the state or the United States. Any person violating this subsection commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, and may also be punished as a court-martial directs.
(2) Every person other than an officer or enlisted person of the Florida National Guard, naval militia, or marine corps of this state, any other state, Puerto Rico, or the District of Columbia, or of the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, or Space Force, who wears the uniform of the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, National Guard, Naval Militia, or Marine Corps or any part of such uniform, or a uniform or part of uniform similar thereto, or in imitation thereof, within the bounds of the state, except in cases where the wearing of such uniform is permitted by the laws of the United States and the regulations of the Secretary of Defense, commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. This section does not prohibit persons in the theatrical profession from wearing such uniforms while actually engaged in such profession, in any playhouse or theater, in a production in no way reflecting upon such uniform; does not prohibit the uniform rank of civic societies parading or traveling in a body or assembling in a lodge room; and does not apply to cadets of any military school or to Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.
History.—ss. 58, 59, ch. 8502, 1921; CGL 2071, 8125, 8126; s. 1, ch. 25112, 1949; s. 146, ch. 71-136; s. 7, ch. 91-139; s. 39, ch. 2003-68; s. 8, ch. 2022-183.
Cited 12 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 2005 WL 1475338
...Johnson, 491 U.S. at 406-07, 109 S.Ct. 2533. The Florida statute clearly meets these requirements, as I explain below. B. The Florida Statute Several Florida statutes prohibit unauthorized uses of law enforcement and military uniforms. For example, section 250.43(2), Florida Statutes (2004), is almost identical to the federal armed services uniform ban contained in 18 U.S.C....
...§ 702 (2000), which the Supreme Court held valid in Schacht v. United States, 398 U.S. 58, 61, 90 S.Ct. 1555, 26 L.Ed.2d 44 (1970). [5] The statute prohibits everyone except members of our armed forces from wearing any part of any service branch's uniform, or an imitation of it, except as provided by law. § 250.43(2), Fla....
...ereof"); § 30.46(4), Fla. Stat. (2004) (prohibiting anyone but sheriffs and their deputies from wearing an official sheriff's badge or insignia or wearing a badge or insignia of such similarity that it is "indistinguishable" from twenty feet away); § 250.43(1) (prohibiting unauthorized persons from wearing the uniform or insignia of the Florida National Guard)....
appeals the county court’s order declaring section 250.43(2), Florida Statutes (2007), unconstitutional
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