The trend is clear, constitutional carry is gaining momentum in the US. By the end of 2017, we are likely to see 15 -16 states with constitutional carry. Last year we had Idaho, West Virginia, Missouri and Montana all pass constitutional carry laws. The Montana bill was later vetoed by the Governor. However, they still allow permitless carry in 99.4% of the state, permitless carry within cities or towns is banned. So far in 2017 New Hampshire has legalized permitless carry with more states to come. This brings the total to 13 states that now allow permitless carry.

It looks like 2017 is going to be a record year with Kentucky, Indiana, and North Dakota set to pass Constitutional carry laws. South Dakota’s permitless carry bill was vetoed by the Governor and the state House failed to override the veto. Indiana’s bill for permitless carry has passed the state House but has been restricted to only persons who have an order of protection and then for only 60 days. While permitless carry in North Dakota becomes lawful on August 1, 2017.

Furthermore, other states such as Colorado, Minnesota, Texas and Utah are all considering permitless carry. However, the reality is that these laws would probably be vetoed by the Governors in these states.

The state of Tennessee has stated they will consider changing their laws to allow for open carry without a permit. There is also strong support in Iowa to remove licensing requirements for firearms.

It’s too early to tell if permitless carry will have any effect on crime statistics due to these laws only being recently introduced. Although if you look at Vermont, they have had permitless carry dating back to 1791 with very little impact.