Concealed Carry History in the USA

Many people believe that concealed carry laws and other laws pertaining to firearms in this country are already too restrictive but the fact is that today we have far more freedom than during any other time in our country's  history.  What you will find in looking back is that the concealed carry of weapons in America has consistently been illegal. Beginning in the early 1800s states began banning the carry of  concealed weapons. By the mid 1900's many states had outlawed the concealed carry of weapons all together. The first laws to be passed on the subject banned concealed carry were first passed by Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813,  and various states followed throughout the course of the 19th century.  Open carry of weaponry was  acceptable in many places but few states allowed for the concealed carry  of firearms all together. Many states were completely restricted and did  not issue permits or were “may-issue,” leaving the issuance of carry  permits to the discretion of state officials.  The one exception is the state of Vermont, which has never required a permit or ever imposed a ban on the carrying of  firearms. 

The 1900's began with a number of restrictive acts regarding  handguns, particularly New York’s Sullivan Law of 1911, which required a permit to even own a pistol. However similar laws which were  passed by many of the other states, did eventually lead to the concept of issuance of licenses to carry. Sullivan laws and similar acts passed by some states made unlicensed  concealed carry a misdemeanor, but also created restrictive may-issue licensure, which still endures in some jurisdictions. Eventually individuals of “good character” and showing good  cause could obtain a permit to carry concealed. Typically, these permits  were rarely issued except to the wealthy and the politically  well-connected. However,  a small number of states were more liberal in licensure. New Hampshire started it by passing the first “shall-issue” law in 1923, wherein a  permit must be issued to an applicant if they meet legal requirements.  Washington state followed suit in 1961, as did Connecticut in 1969.

The  movement toward more states passing concealed carry laws is often attributed to Marion Hammer and the United Sportsmen of Florida’s advocacy in getting concealed carry passed in that state in 1987. Florida was the first major state to embrace the shall issue permit process and this was really the beginning of a nationwide movement toward the concealed carry policy. There were  already several states that had already began the shall issue permit process prior to Florida, but it is Florida that started the mass movement to shall issue when the state adopted this policy in 1987.  Georgia’s  concealed carry law was passed in 1976, and the Indiana Sportsmen Association helped get a similar bill passed for shall-issue concealed carry in Indiana in 1980. Shortly thereafter Maine and the Dakotas followed suit.

As of today, a path to  licensure is available in all 50 states and 40 of them are shall-issue  states. Of the remainder, Vermont doesn’t issue licenses as none are  required, and only 6 are restrictive may-issue states. The remainder are  hybrids between may-issue and shall-issue, such as Delaware,  Connecticut and Rhode Island. Additionally, a few states are now “Constitutional carry” states, requiring no permit to open carry or concealed carry. Some states, such as Wyoming and Idaho, extend this  privilege only to citizens, though others, such as Maine and Vermont,  allow anyone legally allowed to possess a firearm to carry. For information regarding concealed carry in all states follow this link.