Thanks to RF’s seemingly bottomless pockets I’ve spent a lot of my free time traveling around the country covering events for TTAG. And while that’s awesome, what isn’t so much fun is trying to figure out what the laws are in the states I visit. Seedy hotels and cheap restaurants being the keys to keeping the trip within budget, I find myself in situations I’d rather avoid more often than not. And knowing ahead of time whether I can carry or even have a gun is critical to staying felony free. Thanks to a new book and FREE website (click this here link to go there) things have gotten a little easier to figure out. Not saying I’m not going to be checking the laws myself just to double check (as everyone should), but it’s good to get an idea of what’s going on at a glance.

[h/t TFB]

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

16 COMMENTS

  1. I hope it maintains its up-to-date-ness. At a gun show last year I picked up an ATF book (looked like a green phone book) of state laws for free (ATF was handing them out to anyone who went to their table, which was damn few of course). Within 6 months my home state of GA overhauled many of its gun laws, as did a handfull of other states. The book is now a spare kindling. There’s a handful of other sights (maintained by state level 2A groups) that don’t do that great a job of updating.

    • New changes to the carry laws in NC went into effect in December of 2011. One of those changes allows carry in financial institutions. We can now carry in banks if they are not posted with a no concealed weapons sign in NC. This website still lists financial institutions as off limits even though the link they site as source is the NC General Assembly, which has the updated statute that excludes the ‘any financial institute’ language.

      • NC also now recognizes all other states permits which permit concealed carry. No permit required for open carry. Also found basic errors on CT listing. Not impressed with this site at all.

      • Thanks for this update. Can you please provide the specific NC citation for this and we will update GLBS site.

        We appreciate all feedback!

  3. YAY Indiana !! .. although we do have a person who comes in to do a Utah non-resident course to increase reciprocity to that of our state’s permit.

  4. Good find, Nick!

    There are other good sites out there, but we can’t have too many sites covering the issue, nor can we have too much solid information.

  6. The iPhone and Android app “Concealed Carry 50 State Guide v2.0” looks promising. It was most recently updated on July 18, 2012.

  7. Strange…the ‘reciprocity’ map shows that Pennsylvania is a “may issue” state…but New York is a “shall issue” state. What is the logic underlying THAT conclusion?

    In fact, Pennsylvania is a ‘shall issue’ state (even for Philadelphia residents,) and from what I understand, getting a license in New York City is nigh-impossible for all but the wealthy/well-connected.

  8. I sent him the following email:

    Mr. Ciyou,

    Let me be clear: Your advice incorrect about Missouri. http://www.gunlawsbystate.com/#!/states/missouri-gun-laws/criminal-provisions/

    I don’t think you bothered to read the statute closely. As an attorney, I am disturbed that you potentially are giving incorrect legal advice. Under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 571.107.1, all of the enumerated places are not prohibited and is incorrect to say that a license is not valid, which implies an illegality. Those places are just not authorized – big distinction. The no gun signs are aspirational and mean nothing legally.

    Under Section 571.107.2, it clearly states it is NOT A CRIME to have a weapon in any of the places enumerated, but it does subject the concealed carrier to ejection from the property, and if the police are summoned and the concealed carrier refuses to leave, they can be progressively fined and ultimately have their license suspended. This is for trespass, not possession of a weapon. In Missouri, there are two places that are absolutely prohibited, and only two: A public bus and the METRO subway system. That’s it. I trust you will re-read the statute and address the changes accordingly.

    Thank you,

    • Dear Mr. Diggler,
      Thank you for your feedback about Gun Laws by State. We have re-read the 571 Chapter of the Missouri Revised Statutes and updated the website to accurately reflect the law.

      As I’m sure you can appreciate, a state and national law review of this scope encompasses many man hours and will need continual updating to keep up with changes in state legislation and case law. We greatly appreciate feedback like yours to keep Gun Laws by State as accurate as possible.

      To that end, I invite you to let us know of any changes and updates to Missouri gun laws in the future, and thank you again for your comments.

  9. On the surface, it looks nice. But it’s riddled with errors. Just two examples:

    1. Their reciprocity section doesn’t consider state residency when showing who honors other states. For example, a UT permit held by a resident of another state (i.e. non-resident permit) is not honored in FL. FL only honors UT permits held by residents of UT. But their map shows simply FL honors UT permits.

    I took a closer look at MN; I live there and know the MN statutes pretty well…

    2. They interpret MN 624.719 as saying that MN doesn’t offer reciprocity with other state’s carry permits. But what this statue is really about is not state reciprocity, but rather possession of firearms by non-US-resident aliens, NOT out of state carry permit holders.

    While the latter error won’t get anyone into trouble (it’ll only mislead someone from another US state into believing that MN won’t recognize their carry permit), the former one COULD get someone into trouble were they to trust it.

    A better alternative, albeit less polished, is http://www.handgunlaw.us/ And ultimately, the best solution is to fully research the actual statutes of both states you plan on visiting and also understand 18 USC 926A of the US federal code.

    • Evan: With regard to your first point, about Utah and Florida, either they fixed it since you posted this comment, or you missed a button. It’s true that if you go to the Reciprocity Map and click Utah, it shows Florida honors the permit. But in the top right is a box that is marked “Resident” by default. If you click the Non-Resident button, Florida turns red along with two or three other states.

      I generally use the aforementioned http://www.handgunlaw.us/ or http://www.usacarry.com/concealed_carry_permit_reciprocity_maps.html for my reciprocity information. I will continue to look this site over. So far I haven’t found anything to disagree with about the Florida information, but that’s because there isn’t a great deal of info about Florida. I hope the book has more info than the website, because the website is really of limited usefulness, from what I can tell. Certainly it appears to have a lot less useful information than the Handgunlaw.us site, which has specific callouts about “sign force-of-law,” vehicle carry, and duty to notify, among other things.

  10. My friend has a book the covers guns and knife laws. If you’re the kinda guy that carries a work knife or utility knife around as habit, these laws are also important to know.

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