Gulfport, FL Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

1(a)(3) defines a form of loitering as accosting, approaching, or soliciting from other persons in any public place or place open to the public for the purpose of begging, soliciting alms, or soliciting for immoral purposes. It sits alongside six other loitering categories in the same section, adopted by Ord. No. 72-8 on May 2, 1972, which together define who is "guilty of loitering" under the Code. Gulfport does not carry a separate "aggressive panhandling" ordinance describing conduct like following a pedestrian or blocking a path; instead this single clause reaches any accosting, approaching or soliciting done for the purpose of begging or seeking alms in a public place, regardless of whether the encounter is otherwise peaceful.

Because the clause is written into the loitering statute rather than a standalone panhandling law, an officer enforcing it is applying the same section that also covers unauthorized lingering on private property and obstructing a sidewalk, and the same subsection (b) penalty applies across all seven loitering categories: punishment under the Code's general penalty section, § 1-6. There is no carve-out in the text for charitable solicitation on behalf of a nonprofit, a street performer collecting tips, or a person asking a single passerby for change; the clause as written reaches any accosting or approaching for the purpose of begging or soliciting alms in a public place.