Concealed carry in the United States
In the United States, carrying a concealed
weapon (CCW, also known as concealed
carry) is the legal authorization for private
citizens to carry a handgun or other weapons
in public in a concealed manner, either on
the person or in close proximity to the per-
son. In some states, it is sufficient to be a res-
ident or permanent resident (greencard hold-
er). Under current federal legal precedent, it
is constitutional under the Second Amend-
ment for states to have concealed carry li-
censing
that permits concealed carried
weapons, or even not to require any permits
for concealed carry weapons; for example,
any legal gun owner in the state of Vermont
may carry concealed weapons with no per-
mitting required.[1][2] It is likewise constitu-
tional under the Second Amendment for
states to have laws that prohibit concealed
carried weapons, although only 2 states have
done so.[3][4] Laws governing concealed car-
ried weapons vary from state to state. Some
states restrict concealed carried weapons to
a single handgun, whereas others permit
multiple handguns or martial arts weapons to
be carried.
Various states give different terms for li-
censes or permits to carry a concealed fire-
arm, such as a Concealed Handgun License/
Permit
(CHL/CHP), Concealed (Defensive/
Deadly) Weapon Permit/License
(CDWL/
CWP/CWL), Concealed Carry Permit/License
(CCP/CCL), License To Carry (Firearms)
(LTC/LTCF), Carry of Concealed Deadly
Weapon license (CCDW), and similar, with at
least one exception, Tennessee, which issues
a "Handgun Carry Permit," since state law
does not require a person with a permit to
carry the handgun concealed.
Although the current trend towards adopt-
ing concealed carry laws has been met with
opposition, no state which has adopted a
"Shall-Issue" concealed carry law has re-
versed its decision. As of February 2008, 48
US states allow some form of concealed
carry[5] (though 9 of them have discretionary
"may-issue" policies, a few of these being
effectively "no-issue" in practice)