TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida appeals court on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a state law banning the open carrying of firearms, calling the law incompatible with the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

The First District Court of Appeal issued its ruling in a case stemming from the July 4, 2022, arrest of a man who stood at a major intersection in downtown Pensacola carrying a visible, holstered pistol and a copy of the U.S. Constitution.

The decision by a three-judge panel reverses the conviction of Stanley McDaniels in Escambia County in the Florida panhandle. It also vacates his sentence, finding that the state has failed to show that the law is consistent with the country’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis applauded the decision in a post on X. He has called for lawmakers to pass an open carry bill.

“This decision aligns state policy with my long-held position and with the vast majority of states throughout the union,” DeSantis wrote. “Ultimately, the court correctly ruled that the text of the Second Amendment — ‘to keep and bear arms’ — says what it means and means what it says.”