We’re Number 7

A lot of bloggers are talking about Guns and Ammo’s ranking of states according to concealed carry. Pennsylvania ranks in at number 7. John Richardson is surprised North Carolina is only 27, and Kevin is proud Arizona is ranked number one. I have some issues with their ranking criteria. There are many shades of may-issue, and some states which are may issue routinely do issue either depending on jurisdiction. For instance, I would never rank California below Hawaii, or Delaware ahead of Connecticut. There’s also states, like California, for instance, which do have preemption but get no points for it.

13 thoughts on “We’re Number 7”

  1. Kern County is about as Shall Issue as CA gets and I’ve got a CC permit issued by the KC sheriff. Sad that I had to move from Jersey to CA to be allowed to carry.

  2. California is way better than Hawaii. They give the same points for “May-issue” policy, but don’t take into account how often the answer is “yes”. In California, I still have the option of moving to a gun friendly country, or staring in a major motion picture (which by itself is better than my chances of getting a permit in Hawaii).

  3. Gun Free Zones should have been considered too. Honestly, for a CCW ranking, other than Con Carry vs. Shall Issue vs. May Issue, GFZs are probably the #1 thing you deal with. I’d prefer to pay an extra fifty bucks every few years but be able to carry anywhere than to save some dough and have a ton of restrictions.

  4. Unfortunately, there are only 2 states in the top 10 I’d consider living in. (they shall remain nameless.)

  5. Connecticut is theoretically may-issue, but in practice, shall-issue. Curiously, it is apparently easier (at least, less paperwork) to get a non-resident carry permit than the a resident carry permit. Residents have to apply to their local town first, and if rejected, appeal to the state agency. Non-residents get to go directly the state agency. That’s why I have a Connecticut carry permit.

    Oddly enough, Delaware, even though may-issue, used to recognize out of state permits. It appears that they are more picky than they used to be.

  6. Part of the problem is the way they give points simply for offering non-res permits.

    If a state allows carry by non-residents, but requires you to have a non-res permit issued -by- that state to carry in that state, they are far from “gun friendly.”

    Max points should be given for not requiring any permit at all for anyone legal to possess to carry (the Con Carry states).

    Next highest should be for universal recognition of all other’s permits, res and non-res, as that covers even folks who can’t get permits in their home states by allowing them to carry on, for instance, a FL or UT non-res.

    Note those two groups don’t need to issue a non-res permit of their own yet are still be the most “gun friendly” for carry. “Issuing non-res” is simply -irrelevant- to that claim.

    The next lower level would be for those states that recognize other state’s -resident- permits, but not other non-res permits (so no “FL or UT loophole”), but do offer their -own- non-res permit for folks who can’t get a home state permit (preferably not requiring actually applying locally).

    Below them would be states with -no- reciprocity, but that do have non-res permits available.

    Last among those no reciprocity states that “issue non-res” would probably be Oregon. They have zero reciprocity, you can only carry as a non-res with their non-res permit, but only residents of the four contiguous states (CA, WA, ID, and NV) are actually eligible to get those non-res permits.

    Anyway, that’s a bit convoluted for their metric but barring being truly precise about “gun friendliness”, they’d be more accurate to simply leave the “non-res issue” points out of the picture entirely, as it has nothing to do with “gun friendliness” in reality.

  7. How can you get ranked #7 when your largest city makes it so hard to get a permit?

    1. While I’m not trying to argue that Philadelphia’s handling of licenses isn’t a problem, your comment makes it sound like this is some kind of assault on the rights of a huge percentage of the population. The fact is that for 11,215,929 residents of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia policies aren’t an issue.

      1. I’m thinking of it in a “the people that need them most find them harder to get” sort of way.

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