Gun laws by state

The complete gun laws by state

This guide is a complete list of all gun laws by state.  If you are looking for up-to-date information on gun laws then you’re in the right place.  Below you will find information pertaining to guns, laws, stand your ground, and other public information pertaining to guns.

Because each state has there own set of gun laws that are independent of the federal firearms law, because of this we have deviations between states in terms of gun laws.  This guide was created to have a centralized area for each state and its gun laws independent of the federal firearms law.

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What kind of carry laws are there?

In the united states, you will find two different types of carrying laws.  open carry and concealed carry are two types.  Carry laws are left up to each state and each state can be different than the next.  All states allow for a firearm to be carried, however, some states make this process extremely difficult in terms of the application process. 

If you have ever read of the may issue application that New York and a few other states are part of then you have seen this type of application.  It makes it very difficult to get approved and it must instance will have to provide a justifiable need for a carry permit.

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Open carry

Open carry is exactly what the law states, you can carry your firearm where everyone can see it.    The term open means to have the gun in a sling or hostler where it is readily accessible.  Do not confuse open carry with brandishing. 

Brandishing is when someone has their firearm in their hands and more specifically in the pointing or firing position.  This is certain respects could lead to a serious crime.

Open carry has become somewhat more acceptable in certain areas across the united states.  For someone that has never been around someone with a firearm holstered.  Do keep in mind that most criminals hide their weapons and you never see them hostlerd in public view, but being pulled when the crime happens.

Concealed carry

A concealed carry firearm is when someone has his or her firearm concealed from view.  Depending on what state you live in having a concealed weapon may be the only way to carry a firearm.   Concealed firearms can be on the person in the form of a hidden holster that is not in public view, or close to the person like in a bag or pack. 

Gun-related crimes (2017 data)

The below data is from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports.  This program is published yearly and collects data from roughly 18,000 plus sources around the country.  Some of the sources are from county, state, and city data. 

Along with federal law enforcement agencies who provide the data voluntarily to create these reports.  The below reports are on cases committed by firearms within each state for the year of 2017.  This will give you a good idea of the amount of murder that happens by firearms each year. 

How to interpret these reports

These shouldn’t be used to determine if a person has been arrested.  They only reflect crimes that have been reported by law enforcement.   Compared to the number of municipalities that do report data the reports are still under-reported.

2017 Murder Statistics by state – Weapons that were used

State	Total murders	Total firearms	Handguns	Rifles	Shotguns	Firearms (type unknown)
Alabama	2	1	0	0	0	1
Alaska	62	37	7	3	3	24
Arizona	404	249	162	8	9	70
Arkansas	250	168	92	11	4	61
California	1,830	1,274	886	37	34	317
Colorado	218	137	88	7	4	38
Connecticut	102	72	30	0	1	41
Delaware	52	44	20	0	1	23
District of Columbia	116	90	89	0	0	1
Georgia	672	542	490	15	5	32
Hawaii	39	4	1	1	0	2
Idaho	28	13	8	4	1	0
Illinois	814	693	596	24	3	70
Indiana	360	291	147	14	6	124
Iowa	100	57	25	1	5	26
Kansas	129	79	44	4	7	24
Kentucky	263	192	128	6	6	52
Louisiana	566	460	216	23	12	209
Maine	23	12	4	0	0	8
Maryland	475	370	339	5	3	23
Massachusetts	170	99	34	0	0	65
Michigan	567	381	185	13	12	171
Minnesota	113	69	58	1	2	8
Mississippi	149	111	90	4	3	14
Missouri	596	514	224	22	8	260
Montana	41	17	10	2	1	4
Nebraska	43	31	27	2	2	0
Nevada	270	201	16	58	0	127
New Hampshire	14	7	4	0	1	2
New Jersey	324	242	175	7	4	56
New Mexico	113	71	20	2	0	49
New York	547	292	233	6	9	44
North Carolina	547	413	279	9	26	99
North Dakota	9	5	2	1	0	2
Ohio	682	485	226	5	11	243
Oklahoma	239	163	131	5	5	22
Oregon	100	58	34	2	2	20
Pennsylvania	735	567	452	11	8	96
Rhode Island	20	8	1	0	0	7
South Carolina	387	312	183	11	8	110
South Dakota	21	8	6	0	0	2
Tennessee	525	407	271	19	11	106
Texas	1,364	1,012	594	40	26	352
Utah	73	46	32	0	3	11
Vermont	14	6	1	0	0	5
Virginia	453	338	156	11	11	160
Washington	228	134	75	1	1	57
West Virginia	79	45	25	4	4	12
Wisconsin	186	149	111	4	2	32
Wyoming	14	6	5	0	0	1
Guam	1	0	0	0	0	0

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2017 Robbery statistics when a firearm was used

State	Total robberies	Firearms
Alabama	3,190	1,895
Alaska	949	294
Arizona	7,312	3,115
Arkansas	1,813	968
California	56,590	15,343
Colorado	3,734	1,615
Connecticut	2,813	936
Delaware	1,082	488
District of Columbia	2,623	946
Florida	18,584	7,724
Georgia	9,640	5,690
Hawaii	1,077	167
Idaho	182	61
Illinois	427	217
Indiana	5,913	3,000
Iowa	1,204	532
Kansas	1,345	657
Kentucky	2,946	1,332
Louisiana	5,213	2,816
Maine	249	56
Maryland	11,125	5,002
Massachusetts	4,788	1,227
Michigan	6,449	2,992
Minnesota	3,619	1,199
Mississippi	1,264	806
Missouri	6,314	3,725
Montana	295	72
Nebraska	670	403
Nevada	4,841	2,154
New Hampshire	409	82
New Jersey	7,895	2,718
New Mexico	3,617	1,916
New York	19,946	3,806
North Carolina	7,161	4,018
North Dakota	182	41
Ohio	10,869	3,395
Oklahoma	2,995	1,449
Oregon	2,333	515
Pennsylvania	11,707	4,816
Rhode Island	474	125
South Carolina	3,378	1,946
South Dakota	224	68
Tennessee	7,823	4,489
Texas	31,526	17,752
Utah	1,448	438
Vermont	91	22
Virginia	3,774	1,968
Washington	5,161	1,289
West Virginia	460	161
Wisconsin	4,337	2,274
Wyoming	75	25

Registration of firearms

Registration of a firearm has been a hot topic.  In fact, most states do not require registration of a firearm and there is no Federal program to register guns.  With that said, some states set up a registry to registry firearms.  The states are at the time of this writing:

• Hawaii
• California
• Maryland
• New York
• District of Columbia

Background checks & gun sales

Background checks are required by federal laws on all persons that are purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer.  Keep in mind that we said a licensed dealer.  That is because there is a private loophole that does not extend background checks to private sales of firearms. 

With that said there are currently 18 states that have enacted legislation so that a private sale of a firearm would extend a background check to have to include one for private gun sales.  These states below are currently requiring a background check on private sales:

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What are stand your ground laws

The term stand your ground law means that a person can respond to a threat without the fear of criminal prosecution.   A lot of self-defense laws state that a person who is under a threat has a duty to retreat.  If that person retreats and the threat continues, then that person may use force.

Types of Self-defense Laws

Castle Doctrine:  No duty to retreat before using deadly force if you’re in your yard or home.

Stand Your Ground:  No duty to retreat from the situation before resorting to deadly force.  Not limited to your home, or place of work, etc.

Duty to Retreat:  Person has a duty to retreat from a threatful situation if he or she can do so with complete safety.

Gun laws per state

The below data shows gun laws like open carry and gun permits per state in the United States. 

Please keep in mind that gun laws change frequently and that this guide should be used as just that. a basic guide to see what gun laws are per state.  Even though we attempt to keep this data up-to-date it is possible that laws have changed before we can update them.  With that said before making any decisions you should check with your state or county to double check that the gun laws you see are current.

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