Have you ever wondered whether or not you can travel with your firearms to different states? Well, Christina answers this question and provides useful links to show you where you can travel with a firearm.
Learn more about traveling with your gun here.
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Transcript
00:00:00:11 – 00:00:10:10
Speaker 1
Hi, everyone. Have you ever wondered if you can travel with your gun? Well, today we’re going to talk a little bit about that. Hi, I’m Christina Williams from Just Criminal Law.
00:00:10:11 – 00:00:13:00
Speaker 2
And I’m David Mann, legal storytelling specialist.
00:00:13:06 – 00:00:34:24
Speaker 1
So when you talk about traveling with your gun or taking your gun outside your home, there’s rules that can get a little tricky and confusing to people and especially if you want to travel across state lines. So we’re going to talk a little bit about that. So you have some direction about what you can and cannot do.
00:00:34:27 – 00:00:54:26
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I’m thinking that, first of all, there’s just, you know, the laws surrounding carrying a gun at all. So I know that it’s you know, there’s concealed carry and there’s permits and probably people don’t know everything about how to do that. So let’s just start with a basic thing. What first of all, qualifies you to even have a gun?
00:00:55:05 – 00:01:12:18
Speaker 1
Well, you have to have a criminal background that doesn’t include a felony. And you can’t be convicted of any sort of family violence battery. So those are two of the big ones that prevent somebody from legally owning or possessing a firearm.
00:01:12:22 – 00:01:14:02
Speaker 2
And how old do you have to be?
00:01:15:04 – 00:01:22:07
Speaker 1
You have to be 18. In Wyoming, and that is strictly in Wyoming, it varies from state to state.
00:01:22:08 – 00:01:40:14
Speaker 2
Okay. So you’re 18 and don’t have a criminal background in the way that you described there. So now you’re clear to buy a gun and now you have a gun. And this is where I think maybe it might. I know that I’ve recently learned a little bit about this, but I’m just if we can clarify, carrying a gun.
00:01:40:15 – 00:01:46:01
Speaker 2
First of all, what is it like open carry? What is that? What is that?
00:01:47:05 – 00:02:06:06
Speaker 1
Well, that means if you’re traveling down the road and you have your gun with you, it it’s fine to have it in the glove box or in the center console. You’re allowed to have the gun. It’s just not concealed on your person. So it’s an open carry. You’re allowed to do that.
00:02:06:08 – 00:02:17:29
Speaker 2
Okay. So if you if you’re carrying it in a holster where it’s visible or on your back or something, or is carrying it in your hand or inside your glove box or your car, that’s all considered open. Carry.
00:02:19:01 – 00:02:25:27
Speaker 1
Well, as long as you know, if you have it on your person, it’s not covered by a jacket or something like that.
00:02:26:01 – 00:02:47:23
Speaker 2
Okay, great. So and all you need for that is the qualifications of being a gun owner in Wyoming. Now, we would then say, okay, but conceal and carry is a different classification. And that’s like you say, if it’s covered up by a coat or in somewhere that it’s not visible in on your person. Right. That’s just concealing it.
00:02:48:18 – 00:03:01:17
Speaker 1
Right. Mm hmm. And in Wyoming, you as of 2021, you no longer have to have a concealed carry permit in order for that to be legal. So the law recently changed.
00:03:01:23 – 00:03:17:22
Speaker 2
It recently changed. And now you just have to be able to you have to qualify to be a gun owner. And you can open, carry or conceal and carry without a permit. So why then would you ever want to apply for a permit and how do you do that?
00:03:19:03 – 00:03:34:15
Speaker 1
Well, because laws vary from state to state. Some states will require that you be issued a concealed carry permit out of your state in order to conceal to have a concealed carry legally in their state.
00:03:34:20 – 00:03:39:23
Speaker 2
Mm kay. All right. And is it hard to get this this permit?
00:03:41:08 – 00:04:07:04
Speaker 1
It is not that hard. You’re going to have to fill out an application. Go to your local sheriff’s department. There’s fees involved. There’s a waiting period involved. You need to be fingerprinted and they run a background check on you. And if you come back. Okay, and and you’ve checked all the boxes on the application, then they will issue you a concealed carry program.
00:04:07:07 – 00:04:25:00
Speaker 2
Okay. And at that point, it’s okay to carry it across state lines in some states. So in order to determine what the state’s laws are according to having a permit in Wyoming, there’s a handy site you can go to. Right.
00:04:25:27 – 00:04:45:12
Speaker 1
Yes. I looked for a really user friendly site that someone can go to and it will, you know, answer all these little nuanced questions that you might have about traveling with your handgun. And it’s U.S. ConcealedCarry.com.
00:04:45:24 – 00:05:13:16
Speaker 2
Okay. So we’ll bring it up here on the screen. And you see that this is the map of the United States and it’s all these different colors. So when you click on Wyoming, which we have here, then you see that these states turn to these colors. And let’s say for the sake of just showing click on Texas and the colors of the rest of the map change, or you click on Iowa and they all change again.
00:05:13:29 – 00:05:17:20
Speaker 2
Let’s go back to Wyoming. What are these different colors indicating?
00:05:18:23 – 00:05:47:00
Speaker 1
The different colors are indicating whether carry is allowed with your Wyoming permit. So the red states are obviously no. So we’ve got the West Coast with Oregon, Washington, California. They’re all indicating no we’ve got some in the middle and some on the East Coast. But for the most part, you will be allowed to carry with a Wyoming permit.
00:05:47:07 – 00:06:09:24
Speaker 1
And those are the green states. And then the yellow states are. Yes, but there’s restrictions. And so with this convenient website, you can just click on the yes with restrictions and then it’ll take you to what those restrictions are state by state. So it’s really easy, user friendly, convenient website for you to use.
00:06:09:26 – 00:06:28:24
Speaker 2
Okay. And I’m showing right now the states that have restricted reciprocity with Wyoming, and it says exactly what that restriction is. Generally. It’s things like you just have to be 21 years old, which you would have to be in Wyoming anyway to get this concealing carry permit. So this is very handy. And people can go to that site.
00:06:28:24 – 00:06:43:10
Speaker 2
It’s linked here on this video. And with that, if they do have a problem with their gun possession and they need some legal advice, how would they get in touch with you?
00:06:44:28 – 00:07:12:19
Speaker 1
Well, they can click the link in the description. And beyond that, David, if they currently are restricted and they can’t own a firearm, we can also help them with that through the expungement process. So either way, for for more information on, click on the link in the description to get that as well. And we now here at Just Criminal Law, you only get one shot at justice, so make yours count.
