The core principle
Every factual claim on CarryMaps must be traceable to an official government source — a state legislature statute, an Attorney General publication, or an official state law enforcement agency page. We do not use third-party summaries, gun rights organization publications, Wikipedia, or news articles as primary sources.
This approach is slower and more labor-intensive than scraping other sites. We believe it is the only responsible approach for legal reference content where errors can have serious real-world consequences.
Acceptable primary sources
Tier 1 — Official statute text (always preferred)
- State legislature websites (.gov or .state domains) — e.g., flsenate.gov, azleg.gov, statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- Official state code databases — e.g., codes.ohio.gov, law.lis.virginia.gov, leg.mt.gov
- Session law archives for newly enacted legislation
Tier 2 — Official agency publications
- State Attorney General official guidance pages
- State Police or DPS permit program pages
- Official permit application portals (e.g., FDACS for Florida, TX DPS for Texas)
- State court websites (for states where courts issue permits)
Not acceptable as primary sources
- Wikipedia or any crowdsourced reference
- Third-party aggregator sites (including other carry law reference sites)
- Gun rights organization publications (may be used as secondary cross-reference only)
- News articles (may alert us to changes, but must be verified against statute)
What "verified" means
Each state entry in our database carries one of two verification flags:
✅ Verified
The key facts for this state — permit status, permitless carry year and citation, minimum age, open carry status, vehicle carry rules, and the primary statute reference — have been confirmed directly against the official state statute or agency website. The "last verified" date shows when this confirmation occurred.
⚠ Needs verification
This state has data in our system, but it has not yet been independently confirmed against the official current statute. The data may be based on credible secondary sources or may have been accurate at a prior date. Treat this data as preliminary and always verify with the official state source before relying on it.
What we record for each state
For each state, we capture and cite the following data points:
- Carry status — Permitless, permit required, or highly regulated
- Statute citation — The specific statute section(s) governing concealed carry
- Official source URL — Direct link to the official government page
- Permitless carry year and law — Bill number, effective date, and signing governor (for permitless states)
- Minimum age — For both permitless carry and permit eligibility
- Open carry status — Whether openly carrying is permitted and any conditions
- Vehicle carry rules — Whether a license is required to carry in a vehicle
- Available permit — Permit name, issuing agency, and agency URL
- Last verified date — When this information was last confirmed against official sources
How we treat conflicting or low-quality sources
Search results about gun laws are increasingly polluted by AI-generated pages that state legislative changes with confidence and without basis — during our July 2026 verification sweep we found pages claiming bills had become law that remain unpassed today. Our rule: no claim about a law's status is published from a secondary web page alone. Every legislative-status claim must be confirmed against a primary source (the statute, session law, court opinion, attorney general opinion, or issuing agency), or, where a primary source is not yet available, by at least two independent established sources. When sources conflict, the primary source wins; when no primary source exists, we say so rather than guess.
How we handle law changes
Concealed carry laws change frequently — sometimes with very short notice. Our process when a law change is identified:
- The affected state is immediately flagged as "needs verification" in our system
- We locate and read the new session law or updated statute directly from the official legislature website
- We update the state data with the new statute citation, effective date, and relevant details
- The "last verified" date is updated to reflect the date of our review
- If the law is complex or unclear, we note that explicitly and recommend users consult an attorney
We monitor for law changes through legislative tracking services, official state legislature news feeds, and user reports. If you are aware of a recent change we have not yet captured, please contact us.
What we do not cover
CarryMaps focuses on state concealed carry law. We intentionally do not cover:
- Federal firearms law comprehensively — we note federal law where directly relevant (e.g., GFSZA school zone rules) but do not provide a full guide to federal firearms regulations
- Municipal ordinances — in states without preemption, cities may have additional restrictions we do not track at the city level
- Tribal land rules — firearms rules on tribal land are governed by tribal law and may differ significantly from state law
- Long gun / rifle / shotgun carry — our primary focus is handgun carry law
- Suppressor and NFA item rules — these are governed primarily by federal law with state variations we do not currently track
Limitations
Despite our best efforts, CarryMaps has real limitations that all users should understand:
- Laws can change between our verification date and the date you read this page
- Our interpretation of a statute may differ from how courts or law enforcement have interpreted it
- Individual circumstances (prior convictions, state of residence, specific location) can dramatically affect what is legal in a specific situation
- Some of our data is marked "needs verification" and may be inaccurate
For any specific legal question, consult a licensed attorney in the applicable state. CarryMaps is a starting point for understanding the landscape — not a substitute for legal advice. See our full Disclaimer.