With a gun permit can you carry your gun with you to any state?

Concealed carry, or CCW (carrying a concealed weapon), refers to the practice of carrying a handgun or other weapon in public in a concealed manner, either on one's person or in close proximity. Not all weapons that fall under CCW controls are lethal. For example, in Florida, carrying pepper spray in more than a specified volume (2 oz.) of chemical requires a CCW permit, whereas anyone may legally carry a smaller, so-called, “self-defense chemical spray” device hidden on their person without a CCW permit.

While there is no federal law specifically addressing the issuance of concealed carry permits, 49 states have passed laws allowing citizens to carry certain concealed firearms in public, either without a permit or after obtaining a permit from local government and/or law enforcement. 3 Illinois is the only state without such a provision – but its long-standing ban on concealed weapons was recently overturned in a federal appeals court, on constitutional grounds, so that Illinois will be required to draft a concealed carry law by May 2013 (which may be appealed in the U.S. Supreme Court). The states give different terms for licenses or permits to carry a concealed firearm, such as a Concealed Handgun License/Permit (CHL/CHP), Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW), Concealed (Defensive/Deadly) Weapon Permit/License (CDWL/CWP/CWL), Concealed Carry Permit/License (CCP/CCL), License To Carry (Firearms) (LTC/LTCF), Carry of Concealed Deadly Weapon license (CCDW), Concealed Pistol License (CPL), etc. Thirteen states use a single permit to regulate the practices of both concealed and open carry of a handgun.

Some states publish statistics indicating how many residents hold permits to carry concealed weapons, and their demographics. For example, Florida has issued 2,031,106 licenses since adopting its law in 1987, and had 843,463 licensed permit holders as of July 31, 2011. 5 Reported permit holders are predominantly male.

6 Some states have reported the number of permit holders increasing over time. 7 "With hard numbers or estimates from all but three of the 49 states that have laws allowing for issuance of carry permits, the GAO reports that there were about 8 million active permits in the United States as of December 31, 2011. The number of permits revocations is typically small.

5910 The grounds for revocation in most states, other than expiration of a time-limited permit without renewal, is typically the commission of a gross misdemeanor or felony by the permit holder. While these crimes are often firearm-related (including unlawful carry), a 3-year study of Texas crime statistics immediately following passage of CHL legislation found that the most common crime committed by CHL holders that would be grounds for revocation was actually DUI, followed by unlawful carry and then aggravated assault. The same study concluded that Texas CHL holders were always less likely to commit any particular type of crime than the general population, and overall were 13 times less likely to commit any crime.

Laws banning the carrying of concealed weapons were passed in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813, and other states soon followed: Indiana (1820), Tennessee and Virginia (1838), Alabama (1839), and Ohio (1859). Similar laws were passed in Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma. Regulations differ widely by state, with most states currently maintaining a "Shall-Issue" policy.

As recently as the mid-'90s most states were No-Issue or May-Issue, but over the past 30 years states have consistently migrated to less restrictive alternatives. For detailed information on individual states' permitting policies, see Gun laws in the United States by state. State regulations relating to the issuance of concealed carry permits generally fall into four categories described as Unrestricted, Shall Issue, May issue and No Issue.

An Unrestricted jurisdiction is one in which no permit is required to carry a concealed handgun. This is sometimes called Constitutional carry. Among U.S. states, Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming allow residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.

222324 These states also allow the open carry of a handgun without a permit. Vermont does not have any provision for issue of concealed-carry licenses, as none has ever been necessary. As such, Vermont residents wishing to carry handguns in other states must acquire a license from a state which is valid in their destination.

A popular choice is Florida's concealed handgun permit, which is valid for nonresident holders in 28 other states. Alaska, Arizona, and Wyoming all previously had concealed-carry license requirements prior to adoption of unrestricted carry laws, and continue to issue licenses on a "shall-issue" basis for the purposes of inter-state reciprocity (allowing residents of the state to travel to other states with a concealed weapon, abiding by that state's law). In Montana, Utah, South Carolina, and New Hampshire, bills are being discussed that would allow unrestricted carry.

25262728 Montana currently allows concealed carry without a permit in places outside of any incorporated municipality. The Federal Gun Free School Zones Act limits where an unlicensed person may carry; carry of a weapon, openly or concealed, within 1000 feet of a school zone is prohibited, with exceptions granted in the Federal law to holders of valid State-issued weapons permits (State laws may reassert the illegality of school zone carry by license holders), and under LEOSA to current and honorably retired law enforcement officers (regardless of permit, usually trumping State law). A Shall-Issue jurisdiction is one that requires a permit to carry a concealed handgun, but where the granting of such permits is subject only to meeting determinate criteria laid out in the law; the granting authority has no discretion in the awarding of the permits, and there is no requirement of the applicant to demonstrate "good cause".

The laws in a Shall-Issue jurisdiction typically state that a granting authority shall issue a permit if the criteria are met, as opposed to laws in which the authority may issue a permit at their discretion. Typical permit requirements include residency, minimum age, submitting fingerprints, passing a computerized instant background check (or a more comprehensive manual background check), attending a certified handgun/firearm safety class, passing a practical qualification demonstrating handgun proficiency, and paying a required fee. These requirements vary widely by jurisdiction, with some having few or none of these and others having most or all.

The following are undisputed Shall-Issue states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina,18 North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,19 Texas, Utah,20 Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming . Certain states and jurisdictions, while "may-issue" by law, direct their issuing authorities to issue permits to all or nearly all qualified applicants, and as such they are considered "shall-issue" in practice. Alabama, Connecticut, and certain cities and counties in California and New York are examples, with Connecticut having a two-tiered system of temporary (90-day) and permanent (5-year) licenses, the permanent licensing process considered to be shall-issue in practice.

In Connecticut, issuance of the temporary permit from local authorities is not a prerequisite to obtain the regular permit; however one must apply for the temporary permit and wait for a decision from local authorities before applying for the regular permit. Normally, the regular permit is generally granted for applicants that meet statutory criteria regardless of whether the temporary permit is issued or denied. A May-Issue jurisdiction is one that requires a permit to carry a concealed handgun, and where the granting of such permits is partially at the discretion of local authorities (frequently the sheriff's department or police), with a few states consolidating this discretionary power under state-level law enforcement.

The law typically states that a granting authority "may issue" a permit if various criteria are met, or that the permit applicant must have "good cause" (or similar) to carry a concealed weapon. In most such situations, self-defense in and of itself oftentimes does not satisfy the "good cause" requirement. The following are "may-issue" states: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.

A state that is de jure a May-Issue jurisdiction may range anywhere from Shall-Issue to No-Issue in practice,2930 i.e. Alabama, Connecticut and Delaware are regarded as Permissive May-Issue states, where the issuing authorities are generally directed by their superiors to approve applications that meet all non-discretionary criteria. Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico are considered Restrictive May-Issue states, where issuing authorities are directed to deny most or all applications, either based on hard-to-meet "good cause" requirements or agency policies specifically prohibiting issue.

California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York vary within state; Inland California, rural portions of Massachusetts, and Upstate New York are Permissive, while the New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco metropolitan areas are Restrictive. Rhode Island state law is two-tier; local authorities are directed by state law and court precedent (Archer v McGarry) to practice shall-issue permitting policy, but the Attorney General's office has discretionary authority over state-issued permits (required for open carry in general and for concealed carry outside the resident's home jurisdiction), and some local jurisdictions, at the recommendation of the AG, still refer all applicants to the AG's office and the "may-issue" state-level system in violation of Archer. In some May-Issue jurisdictions, permits are only issued to individuals with celebrity status, have political connections, or have a high degree of wealth.

323334 In some such cases, issuing authorities charge arbitrarily-defined fees that go well beyond the basic processing fee for a CCW permit, thereby making the CCW permit unaffordable to most applicants. May-issue permitting policies are currently under legal challenge in California, Maryland and New York; the case of Woollard v. Sheridan was decided in favor of a Maryland resident who was denied a permit renewal due to lack of "good cause" in accordance with Maryland law; the case is now pending before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

New York's similar "good cause" requirement is also under challenge in Kachalsky vs. Cacase. Additionally, the case Perulta v.