Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

The State (by State) of Right-To-Carry

Friday, July 28, 2006

by Dave Kopel

Thirty-eight states? Thirty-nine? Forty? We attempt to resolve the states of confusion by giving you all you ever wanted to know about the status of Right-to-Carry laws but were afraid to ask.


In spring 2006, the Nebraska legislature defeated a filibuster and passed a Shall-Issue law for licensing the carrying of concealed handguns by adults who pass a background check and a safety class. Nebraska’s governor signed the bill into law.

Just a few weeks earlier, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius had vetoed a Shall-Issue bill, then the Kansas legislature overrode the veto. Thanks to the hard work of pro-rights activists in Kansas and Nebraska, there are now 40 states that allow law-abiding citizens to carry handguns for lawful defense, and a grand total of 48 that allow at least some citizens to do so.

Here is the state-by-state status report:

No permit needed: Two states—Alaska and Vermont—do not require a permit for any adult who is legally allowed to possess a firearm. Alaska will issue a permit, however, upon application. An Alaskan might want to obtain a permit from his or her home state in order to use the permit to carry in another state, as is allowed by many states under the principle of “reciprocity.”

Shall-Issue: Thirty-five states, including all states not listed elsewhere, practice Shall-Issue permit distribution. Nebraska and Kansas are the newest additions to this category. As with a driver’s license, a Shall-Issue law states that the government “shall” issue a concealed handgun carry permit to a person who meets certain objective criteria, such as: being above a minimum age, passing a background check and, in some states, passing a safety class or test.

Do-Issue: Three states—Alabama, Connecticut and Iowa—have statutes that are not completely Shall-Issue, but that reserve some discretion to the issuing law enforcement agency. In these states, local law enforcement will generally issue a permit to the same kinds of persons who would qualify for a permit in a Shall-Issue state, and many times these states are included on Shall-Issue state lists.

Ten states generally do not allow such handgun carrying in public areas or only allow limited permits:

Capricious-Issue: Eight coastal states have permit laws but give local law enforcement almost unlimited discretion to deny permits. Although there can be significant variation from one locality to another, permits are rarely issued in most jurisdictions, except to celebrities or other influential people. These Capricious-Issue states are Hawaii, California, Delaware (not as bad as the others, in practice), Maryland, New Jersey (the worst), New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

No Issue: Illinois has no process for issuing Right-to-Carry permits. The state does, however, allow certain persons—such as law enforcement or security guards—to carry without a permit. Likewise exempt is carrying a gun in one’s home or place of business.

Wisconsin is the other No-Issue state, and its law is even more extreme than Illinois. In Wisconsin, the Right to Carry is outlawed under all circumstances, even in one’s home or business premises. However, a decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, interpreting Wisconsin’s state constitutional right to arms, held that in most cases the ban cannot be enforced against people who carry on their own property.

The Wisconsin legislature has twice come within one or two votes of overriding the governor’s veto of a Shall-Issue law. Historically, in every state where Shall-Issue laws have been blocked by a veto (such as Florida and Colorado), a Shall-Issue law has eventually been enacted. So Wisconsin will almost certainly become a Shall-Issue state—as soon as Second Amendment supporters there elect a new governor, or even just a couple more good legislators.

The prospects for reform in Delaware are also good. Shall-Issue legislation there has enough co-sponsors to pass both houses.

Rhode Island actually has a Shall-Issue law (for issuance by local law enforcement) and a Capricious-Issue law (for issuance by the attorney general). The attorney general has succeeded, at least temporarily, in stifling the local Shall-Issue system, but a decision of the Rhode Island Supreme Court suggests that this state of affairs is untenable. All that is necessary to implement Shall-Issue in Rhode Island is a new Attorney General with a different attitude. (My Albany Law Review article, available at www.davekopel.org, provides more details about Rhode Island and Wisconsin.)

Of the remaining seven holdouts, three states—New York, Illinois and California—have previously passed a Shall-Issue bill through a single house of the legislature. The passage suggests that Shall-Issue, although hardly easy to enact into law, might eventually be accomplished. In all seven of the final holdout states, it would appear that it would be very difficult to ever pass a Shall-Issue law by a wide enough margin to override a veto. But with legislatures, you just never know.

The more states that enact Shall-Issue laws, the more legislators in holdout states become open to the idea that Shall-Issue is not dangerous, as some continue to argue. Ohio, Minnesota and Michigan are examples of states whose enactment of Shall-Issue legislation was possible only because so many other states had acted previously. As the number of Shall-Issue states rises, so does the possibility of enacting Shall-Issue in the dwindling number of holdouts.

As momentum builds in a given state, a Shall-Issue bill eventually attracts the support of all or almost all Republican legislators, and of almost all Democrats with a c rating or higher from the National Rifle Association. Many of the swing votes (the c-rated legislators, who say that they are pro-Second Amendment, but who often vote for gun control laws) are attracted by the objective standards of the Shall-Issue system, which, unlike the Capricious-Issue system, typically forbids gun carrying in certain places (e.g., hospitals), sets objective standards about who may not receive a permit (persons with various disqualifying conditions), and (in most states) requires a specific amount of firearms safety training.

Of course, the most important effect of Shall-Issue laws is that licensed handgun carriers are able to protect themselves or other innocents from violent felons. But there is also an important cultural effect: the enactment and continuing existence of Shall-Issue laws help educate the public—including citizens who do not own guns—that defensive gun carrying by responsible citizens is a highly legitimate activity that is appropriate in almost all public places.

IN THIS ARTICLE
Right-To-Carry
TRENDING NOW
Is This What Help Looks Like in Chicago?

News  

Monday, June 5, 2023

Is This What Help Looks Like in Chicago?

Chicago, desperate to do something to try to diminish the violent crime that is ravaging the city, has turned to programs that are not your traditional law enforcement approach to try to help stem the ...

Study: Restrictive Gun Control Laws “Unlikely” to Solve Problem of Youth Gun Violence

News  

Monday, June 5, 2023

Study: Restrictive Gun Control Laws “Unlikely” to Solve Problem of Youth Gun Violence

A first of its kind study published in late May in the American Medical Association’s JAMA Network Open concluded that community-level “social vulnerability” factors like poverty, unemployment, crowded housing, and minority status were much more likely than ...

Connecticut:  Gun Control Bill Passes the House and Moves to the Senate

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Connecticut: Gun Control Bill Passes the House and Moves to the Senate

On Thursday, the House passed HB 6667 on a vote of 96-51.  This drastic gun control legislation has a bit of everything.  It contains a ban on open carry and strengthens prohibitions and registration of semi-auto "assault ...

Updates to ATF Final Rule on Stabilizing Braces

News  

Monday, January 30, 2023

Updates to ATF Final Rule on Stabilizing Braces

On Monday, January 30, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) published the final Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached “Stabilizing Braces” rule for public inspection in the federal register.

Maine: House to Vote on Anti-Shooting Range Bill

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Maine: House to Vote on Anti-Shooting Range Bill

Tomorrow, the Maine House is scheduled to vote on Legislative Document 1000, which would establish a firearm range safety group within the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. This legislation is the first step in ...

Undercover Video: Sen. Fetterman (D-Pa.) staffer claims boss would be “okay with like overturning the Second Amendment”

News  

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Undercover Video: Sen. Fetterman (D-Pa.) staffer claims boss would be “okay with like overturning the Second Amendment”

It seems as though Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) may like to overturn more than just the U.S. Senate’s standards of professional attire. According to an undercover video of Fetterman senate staffer Luke Borwegen, obtained by O’Keefe Media Group, ...

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Advances Pistol Brace Resolution

News  

Monday, April 24, 2023

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Advances Pistol Brace Resolution

On April 19, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted 23-15 to advance H.J.Res.44, which would reign in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ attempt to regulate pistol stabilizing braces. The resolution employs ...

New York:  Approaching End of Session Is A Dangerous Time For Gun Owners

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

New York: Approaching End of Session Is A Dangerous Time For Gun Owners

We are in the ninth inning in Albany, and the anti-gun politicians are always looking to steal a base.  You can count the number of scheduled 2023 legislative session days on one hand, which means ...

Texas Legislature Ends Regular Session After Passing a Trio of Pro-Second Amendment Bills & Rejecting Gun Control Measures

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Texas Legislature Ends Regular Session After Passing a Trio of Pro-Second Amendment Bills & Rejecting Gun Control Measures

The Texas Legislature adjourned from the 2023 Regular Session on Memorial Day and was immediately called back into special session on property tax relief and human smuggling issues.

Connecticut:  Gun Control Legislation Nearing House Vote

Thursday, May 25, 2023

Connecticut: Gun Control Legislation Nearing House Vote

Gun banners in Hartford have been busy all session cooking up a concoction of more gun control.  In a state where there is already a large buffet of gun laws, it’s time for Connecticut gun ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.