Gun laws vary dramatically by state. Federal law sets a nationwide floor on who can own a firearm and how guns travel across state lines, but on top of that floor each state writes its own rules for buying, carrying, storing, and using a firearm. Nearly 30 states now let eligible adults carry a handgun in public without any permit, while a handful still require training, fees, and paperwork that can stretch over months. Conduct that is routine in one state can be a felony on the other side of a state line, so the state you are in, buying from, or driving through determines what you can legally do.
Who Cannot Own a Firearm Anywhere in the Country
Before any state rule applies, federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) bars certain categories of people from possessing any firearm or ammunition anywhere in the United States.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts The prohibited categories are:
- Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, whether or not they served time
- Fugitives from justice
- Current users of controlled substances, including marijuana even in states where it is legal
- People involuntarily committed to a mental institution or adjudicated mentally unfit
- Noncitizens unlawfully in the country or admitted on most nonimmigrant visas
- Veterans dishonorably discharged
- People who have renounced U.S. citizenship
- People subject to a qualifying domestic violence restraining order
- Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence
That list is exhaustive at the federal level, but states regularly add their own categories. Some bar people with certain non-felony convictions, multiple DUIs, or mental health holds that fall short of the federal threshold. You can be federally eligible and still be prohibited by the state you live in.
The domestic violence prohibitions held up in United States v. Rahimi (2024), where the Supreme Court ruled that temporarily disarming a person a court has found to pose a credible threat is consistent with the Second Amendment.
Buying a Firearm
Background Checks
Any purchase from a licensed dealer, in any state, triggers a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Most come back within minutes, and dealers may proceed after three business days if no response arrives.
The split comes with private sales. About 20 states and the District of Columbia require background checks on all firearm transfers, including sales between two individuals. In the other states, a private sale between neighbors, friends, or strangers at a gun show can happen with no background check at all. Several states also run their own checks that pull from local mental health and juvenile records the federal system may not have. State check fees generally run from a few dollars up to around $50.
Waiting Periods
About 14 states require you to wait between buying a firearm and taking physical possession of it. Periods range from one or two days to as long as 30, with most falling in the three-to-ten-day range, and some excluding weekends and holidays. Everywhere else, you can finish the paperwork and walk out with the gun the same day. Dealers who ignore a state waiting period risk losing their license, and buyers who try to work around it can face misdemeanor charges.
Age
Federal law sets the minimum age at a licensed dealer at 18 for long guns and 21 for handguns.2Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Minimum Age for Gun Sales and Transfers Several states have pushed the minimum up to 21 for all firearms, including rifles, usually with narrow exceptions for active-duty military and law enforcement. Selling to an underage buyer is a serious offense for the seller, and possession by the buyer is a separate charge.
Permits to Purchase
A smaller group of states requires a permit or owner identification card before you can buy a firearm at all. The application typically involves fingerprints, a safety course, and a fee ranging from about $10 to well over $100. In these states, a dealer cannot legally transfer a gun to someone without a valid permit, and buying or selling without one exposes both sides to criminal charges.
Carrying a Firearm in Public
Permitless Carry
The biggest shift in state firearms law over the past decade is the spread of permitless carry, often called constitutional carry. As of early 2026, roughly 29 states allow eligible adults to carry a handgun in public without a government permit. You still have to meet the federal and state eligibility rules and obey all restricted-location laws, but no application, training course, or fee is required.
Many people in permitless-carry states still get a permit voluntarily. A permit often unlocks reciprocity with other states and simplifies encounters with law enforcement, and as discussed below, it preserves the federal school-zone exception.
Shall-Issue States
In shall-issue states, the government must grant a carry permit to any applicant who meets the objective requirements: passing a background check, finishing any required training, and paying the fee. Officials have no discretion to deny based on whether they think you “need” a gun. Fees generally run $40 to $150 for a permit lasting five to seven years. Carrying without the permit in these states can bring fines and a loss of carry privileges.
What Bruen Changed
A handful of states operated under “may-issue” rules, requiring applicants to show a special need or “proper cause” for a carry permit. The Supreme Court struck down that approach in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), holding that conditioning the right to carry on proof of special need violated the Fourteenth Amendment.3Supreme Court of the United States. New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc v Bruen Those jurisdictions now use objective criteria, though they still tend to impose the toughest training requirements and the highest fees in the country.
Open Carry Versus Concealed Carry
Most states regulate open carry and concealed carry separately. Open means the firearm is visible, typically in a hip holster. Concealed means it is hidden under clothing or in a bag. Some states permit one but not the other, and many require a permit for concealed carry even where open carry is unrestricted. Definitions of “concealed” can be strict enough that accidentally exposing a gun you meant to keep hidden creates legal exposure. Where open carry is allowed, some states require a retention holster. Private property owners who post no-firearms signage can turn an otherwise lawful carry into criminal trespass in several states.
Reciprocity Between States
A permit from one state is not automatically good in another. Some states have formal reciprocity agreements. Others honor any valid out-of-state license. A third group recognizes none. Carrying in a state that does not honor your permit is treated as unlicensed possession, which can mean jail time. Checking reciprocity before any interstate trip with a firearm is not optional.
Federal No-Carry Zones That Override State Permits
No state permit overrides federal location bans. Possessing a firearm in a federal facility, meaning a building where federal employees regularly work, is punishable by up to a year in prison, and up to five years if the firearm was brought to commit a crime.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 930 – Possession of Firearms and Dangerous Weapons in Federal Facilities Federal court facilities carry a separate two-year maximum. That covers post offices, federal courthouses, Social Security offices, and VA buildings.
The Gun-Free School Zones Act makes it a federal crime to possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of a public or private school. The exceptions are narrow: you hold a carry permit issued by the state where the school sits, the firearm is unloaded and locked in a container in your vehicle, or you are on private property that is not part of the school.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts In a permitless-carry state, you may not have the document that qualifies you for the school-zone exception. For many carriers, that alone is reason enough to get a permit even where none is required.
Driving Through a Restrictive State
If your route takes you through a state where your firearm would otherwise be illegal, the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act gives limited safe passage. Under 18 U.S.C. § 926A, you may transport a firearm through any state so long as you can legally possess it at both ends of the trip, the gun is unloaded, and neither the gun nor the ammunition is readily accessible from the passenger compartment.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 926A – Interstate Transportation of Firearms If your vehicle has no separate trunk, the firearm must be in a locked container other than the glove box or center console.
The protection covers transport, not stops. Overnight stays, sightseeing, or any extended lingering in a restrictive state weaken the defense. Some jurisdictions have a reputation for arresting travelers despite the federal rule, especially when a gun is discovered at a traffic stop. Keep the firearm stored exactly as the statute requires for the full trip and minimize time in any state where you would not otherwise be legal.
Firearms and Accessories Restricted in Some States
Assault Weapons
Roughly ten states ban firearms classified as “assault weapons.” Some list prohibited makes and models by name; others use a feature test, banning any semiautomatic rifle or pistol with components like a pistol grip, folding stock, or threaded barrel. A rifle sold freely in most of the country can be contraband the moment it crosses into a ban state. Some bans grandfather in firearms owned before the law took effect, provided the owner registers them, and usually prohibit transfer of those registered guns within the state. Possession of an unregistered banned firearm is typically a felony.
Magazine Capacity
Fourteen states cap detachable magazine capacity, most often at ten rounds. Possessing a magazine that exceeds the limit is usually a standalone offense even if the firearm itself is lawful. Standard-capacity magazines for many common handguns hold 15 to 17 rounds, which makes this one of the easiest laws to violate accidentally when traveling.
Ghost Guns
About 16 states require unserialized firearms, including those assembled from kits or 3D-printed components, to be serialized through a licensed dealer. Federal rules also now require commercial kits to include serial numbers and buyers to pass background checks. Missing a state serialization deadline can turn a home-built firearm into contraband.
NFA Items
Suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and other items regulated under the National Firearms Act are legal federally with a $200 tax stamp and an extensive background check. State law decides whether you can actually possess them. Some states ban them outright, and federal NFA registration is not a defense against state possession charges. Verify your state’s position before buying anything NFA-regulated.
Bump Stocks and Rate-of-Fire Accessories
The Supreme Court struck down the federal ATF bump stock ban in Garland v. Cargill (2024), holding that a bump stock does not make a rifle fire more than one shot per trigger pull.6Supreme Court of the United States. Garland v Cargill That decision invalidated only the federal regulation. Several states had already banned bump stocks, binary triggers, and similar accessories under their own law, and those bans remain in force. Penalties in those states can be comparable to those for illegal machine gun possession.
Ammunition
A smaller group of states regulates ammunition separately. These laws can require background checks for ammunition purchases, ban armor-piercing rounds, prohibit direct-to-consumer shipping, or require all sales to happen face-to-face at a licensed retailer. Court challenges have struck down some of these schemes on Second Amendment grounds, with more litigation pending. If you order ammunition online, check whether your state allows home delivery or requires shipment to a dealer for pickup.
Self-Defense Rules by State
Stand Your Ground
At least 31 states have some form of stand-your-ground law, which eliminates the common-law duty to retreat before using deadly force. If you are not committing a crime and are in a place you have a right to be, you can use deadly force when you reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent death or serious injury to yourself or another. You do not have to try to escape first. Roughly 23 states pair this with civil immunity, blocking lawsuits by an attacker or their family if your use of force is found lawful. To get that protection, you usually have to establish at a preliminary hearing that your use of force met the legal standard, and if the court agrees, the criminal case is dismissed before trial.
Duty to Retreat
The remaining states generally require you to retreat from a dangerous situation in public if you can do so safely, and only then may you use deadly force. Failing to retreat when an exit was available can turn a self-defense claim into a manslaughter or murder charge, because the court will find that deadly force was unnecessary.
The Castle Doctrine
Even most duty-to-retreat states apply a castle doctrine: you have no duty to flee from an intruder in your own home. Many states extend that protection to your occupied vehicle or place of business. The law often creates a legal presumption that you reasonably feared death or serious injury when someone unlawfully and forcefully entered your home. The entry must be both unlawful and forceful. The doctrine does not cover simple trespass, and once the threat ends the justification ends with it: continuing to fire at someone fleeing or already disabled can lead to criminal charges against the homeowner.
Every self-defense claim turns on whether a reasonable person in the same situation would have believed deadly force was necessary. It is an objective test judged on what you could see and hear at the moment, not what was discovered afterward. And the law in nearly every state draws a hard line between defending people and defending property: deadly force to stop a theft of belongings is not justified.
Red Flag Laws
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have extreme risk protection order (ERPO) laws, commonly called red flag laws. These let family members or law enforcement petition a court to temporarily remove firearms from someone the court finds to pose a significant danger. The process is civil, so no arrest or conviction is required to trigger it, but violating the resulting order is a criminal offense.
A judge may issue an emergency ex parte order based on a finding of immediate danger, typically lasting about 14 days, requiring surrender of all firearms and ammunition to law enforcement or a licensed dealer. A full hearing follows, at which the person has the right to appear, present evidence, and be represented. If the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the danger persists, the order can usually be extended for up to a year. When the order expires without renewal, seized firearms must be returned. Most states that have adopted ERPOs also penalize false or malicious petitions.
Domestic Violence Prohibitions
Federal law prohibits anyone subject to a qualifying domestic violence restraining order from possessing firearms or ammunition. The order must have been issued after a hearing the person had notice of and could participate in, must restrain them from threatening or harassing an intimate partner or child, and must either include a finding of credible threat or explicitly prohibit physical force against the protected person.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
A separate federal ban applies to anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, no matter how old the conviction.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts Violations can bring up to ten years in federal prison and a lifetime ban. Nearly all states also require firearm surrender under their own protective orders, meaning the subject must physically hand weapons over to law enforcement or an authorized third party for the duration of the order.
Storage, Lost or Stolen Guns, and Local Rules
Safe Storage and Child Access
About 35 states and the District of Columbia have child access prevention (CAP) laws creating criminal liability when a minor gains access to an unsecured firearm. Some require that the child actually use or carry the firearm; others impose liability for storage alone, regardless of what the child does. The age that counts as a minor ranges, typically, from 14 to 18. A smaller group of states imposes affirmative safe-storage requirements on all gun owners, requiring firearms to be in a locked container or secured with a trigger or cable lock when not in use. Violations can be misdemeanors or, in some states, felonies, especially when an unsecured gun causes injury or death. Improper storage can also open the door to civil lawsuits when the firearm is later used in a crime.
Reporting Lost or Stolen Firearms
About 16 states and the District of Columbia require owners to report lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement within a set time, ranging from 24 hours to seven days. Penalties for failing to report run from modest fines to misdemeanor charges for repeat violations. Even where no law requires it, filing a report protects you: if the gun later surfaces at a crime scene, the report establishes that it was out of your possession.
State Preemption and Local Ordinances
Some states reserve all firearms regulation to the legislature through strong preemption laws, so a city or county cannot impose stricter rules than the state. The law is uniform statewide. Other states have weak preemption or none, letting local governments add their own layers: bans on open carry in parks, limits on firearm discharge within city limits, or local registration requirements. In those states, driving from one municipality to another can change what is legal. If you live in or travel through a state without strong preemption, checking local ordinances matters as much as knowing state law.