In what states is CCW without a permit a felony?

[WonderNine]

I'm planning on getting my CCW pretty soon, but I was wondering. In what states is it actually a felony to CCW without a permit? I find it humorous and yet sickening at the same time that something you can easily obtain a permit for can be considered a felony. Also the fact that it is a right guaranteed by The Constitution anyways, but I'm going off on a rant here....

Basically just wondering where CC is a felony? I find this subject interesting.

 

[Gray Peterson]

Florida is, class 3 felony for a firearm, Class 1 Misdemeanor for every other weapon.

 

[Blackhawk]

It will be interesting. I'd like to know too.

 

[Jim March]

In most states, illegal carry with a prior criminal record of various sorts will net you a felony.

In California, if your record is clean, the illegal carry is a misdemeanor SO LONG AS the gun is legally registered to you. Borrow a gun and carry it, or carry a gun you have owned since before the "registration requirement" (it's a bit more complex than that, but we'll let that slide) and you've got a felony.

 

[Mark Benningfield]

Tricky, tricky

Hello All.

Here in Oklahoma, before they passed the Oklahoma Self Defense Act (creating the Concealed Carry License), carrying a concealed firearm used to be a misdemeanor. When they instituted the license, they made it into a felony. Pretty dang sneaky, huh.

 

[WonderNine]

...

 

[Bravo8]

It's a felony in Pennsylvania, with a whole mess of exceptions.

 

[chaim]

I think it is a misdemeanor in MD but one with some pretty stiff penalties. Legal carry isn't an option, it isn't possible for a mere citizen to obtain a CCW for self protection, unless you know someone or are rich. The one exception is for business purposes but then it is severely restricted when you can carry (i.e. if you are a jeweler you may have one that lets you carry between the business and home or the bank but then you better not stop for lunch or gas or forget to put it away when you go shopping after work).

 

[PATH]

Take a look at www.packing.org for some insight

 

[El Tejon]

Misdemeanor in Indiana, unless you have a felony conviction or a prior conviction, then felony.

 

[dinosaur]

In NYC it was a felony except in your home or place of business.

Hey Bravo, you`re gonna get hammered again today! Of course, we ain`t exactly out of the soup either.

 

[funbob]

A petty misdemeanor if you are caught carrying a loaded concealed firearm.

Carrying an unload concealed weapon is perfectly leagal...

...the law does not define what "unloaded" is. Many people simply carry with an empty chamber. Somewhere in the state statutes is a strange law making it illegal to ride a snowmobile with a round in the chamber. I don't know if this would be a valid legal argument but interesting to note nonetheless.

Concealment in your car, truck, boat, bike, etc... is perfectly legal and one is not required to declare presence of weapons to an LEO. Any "private means of conveyance" as the law calls it is considered an extension of ones home.

Some time back, an individual used an illegaly concealed weapon to foil a bank robbery, he was not charged with anything. There are several other instances of people defending themselves with illegaly concealed weapons and not being charged with anything.

So basically, the law can be interpreted as "Concealed carry is illegal, but if you get caught, we won't do anything and if you use your illegal CCW in self defense, that's fine"

This is New Mexico BTW

 

[Ebbtide]

Ohio treats it as a felony, but if you can prove you needed to carry you can get off after having been arrested. Only three people have gotten off to date, and that case is in appeals.

Most often you are sent to jail if you carry in Ohio. Until I found TFL I thought "CCW" was a criminal charge like B&E, and armed robbery.

Most recently, Ohio had a chance to change all that but the Highway Patrol (ohio's current legislative body) insisted that CCW not be permitted in automobiles (Now I'm ranting).

 

[mjustice]

In New York (including NYC), CCW without a valid pistol license (of some sort) is a D felony.

Possessing a handgun at home (or your place of business) without a license is an A misdemeanor.

Carrying an unloaded handgun is an A misdemanor. New York defines "loaded firearm" as

"any firearm loaded with ammunition or any firearm which is possessed by one who, at the same time, possesses a quantity of ammunition which may be used to discharge such firearm"

Hence, there is no way to defend yourself with an unloaded firearm in a manner that would not get your clipped for Criminal Possession of a weapon in the third degree (the aforementioned D felony).

Moral of the story: If you are going to break the law, go all the way! There is no technical loophole here in the Empire State.

MJ

[Note: This is not legal advice ]

 

[chaim]

Until I found TFL I thought "CCW" was a criminal charge like B&E, and armed robbery

Funny, me too. I also thought that Florida was the only state "crazy" or "stupid" enough to "return to the wild west" and allow anyone who wanted to to carry. They must have had tons of road rage shootings.

I learned and changed a lot in my year at TFL. Facts can win sometimes.

 

[TallPine]

In Montana it is a misdemeanor.

But that only applies inside of city limits. Outside of town, no permit needed. (except on reservations and national parks, which are victim disarmament zones)

 

[Monkeyleg]

In WI it's a class A misdemeanor, punishable by 9 months and a $10,000 fine. (Although $1500 for a lawyer will usually get it knocked down to a $500 fine and no time).

It's very possible that, if we get legal concealed carry, one of the trade-offs will be making unlicensed concealed carry a felony. The Milwaukee PD has been pushing to felonize carry for a long time.

 

[Malone LaVeigh]

Jim,

In California, if your record is clean, the illegal carry is a misdemeanor SO LONG AS the gun is legally registered to you. Borrow a gun and carry it, or carry a gun you have owned since before the "registration requirement" (it's a bit more complex than that, but we'll let that slide) and you've got a felony.

Is that for real? I've got a couple of handguns I inherited from out of state in the early 90s. It would be a felony to carry one of them, but not the 1911 I bought last year? What about the 9mm I bought in Cal. back in the 80's?

BTW, another irony is that, as I understand it, it's a Class A felony to carry one of the knives that made the banned list, concealed or not.

 

[geekWithA.45]

The Dark and Fascist People's Republic of New Jersey

Will lock you up for 10 years....it's a felony equivalent. If you've got hollow points, they'll throw another 5 onto the sentence.

They're a "may issue" state, but they won't.

 

[55645]

In Illinois there is no CCW whatsoever. Carrying a loaded firearm on one's person or in one's car is a first offence felony. I have heard that for a $5,000.00 bribe you can be made a sherriff's deputy and could then carry legally. I don't know anyone who's done it.

 

[Nanook]

In Illinois it's now a Class 4 felony, although it used to be a misdemeanor. It was fairly recently that it was changed to a felony. I think it was part of that Safe Neighborhoods Act which is kind of ironic when you think of it.

 

[WonderNine]

I've often wondered. Since with autos I carry, I do not chamber a round, is that legally considered an unloaded weapon?

But then I do have a non-automatic carry gun that is only loaded by inserting rounds directly into the chamber.....

 

[WonderNine]

Misdemeanor in Indiana, unless you have a felony conviction or a prior conviction, then felony.

I find that humorous

If you don't have a criminal record than you're still considered acting in a criminal way by defending yourself.

Even if you have a criminal record, but are not wanted by police, you should be able to carry.

 

[WonderNine]

Funny, me too. I also thought that Florida was the only state "crazy" or "stupid" enough to "return to the wild west" and allow anyone who wanted to to carry. They must have had tons of road rage shootings.

I learned and changed a lot in my year at TFL. Facts can win sometimes.

We're glad to see you converted from the "dark side"!

 

[Jim March]

Malone LaVeigh: yup, that's *exactly* how it works.

It's still legal for you to own one of those old "off-paper" guns, and you can transport it properly unloaded/locked/trunked/etc to shoot it, hunt with it, sell it or whatever. But don't carry 'em illegally.

If you want to, you can voluntarily register them with the Cal-DOJ. There's an online form you can download, fill out and mail in for that purpose.

There's one other way to escape scot free from a packin' bust: if you have a restraining order out against somebody else, it's an "affirmative defense", which is lawyerese for "an excuse that you can use in court, and the judge can't prevent you from using it - but the jury may or may not buy it". It's not clear if you also need to meet the "registered gun requirement" but if you fall under this RO category, I *strongly* recommend packin' a registered piece.

Knife law in California is a whole 'nuther critter entirely. Yes, there's a BUNCH of possible felonies there. See also: http://www.ninehundred.com/~equalccw/knifelaw.html

The good news: you can carry any size folding lockblade you want, as long as it's not a switchblade, butterfly or true "gravity knife", open or *concealed*. Even if it's a double-edge folder. See that page for details. It's the only really cool part of the California weapons laws and in that respect, it's better than most of the shall-issue gun law states (some of which have sucky knife laws).