Pennsylvania concealed carry laws and reciprocity

A licensee carrying concealed or in a vehicle must produce the license for inspection upon lawful demand of a law enforcement officer; there is no statutory duty to volunteer that one is armed.

Carrying a firearm in any vehicle requires a valid license unless a 6106(b) exception applies, such as transporting an unloaded firearm in a secure wrapper between specified places or interstate transport under 18 U.S.C. 926A.

Carrying a firearm concealed on or about the person, or in any vehicle, outside one's home or fixed place of business without a valid license is a crime (a third-degree felony, or a first-degree misdemeanor for an otherwise eligible person).

A license shall be issued to an applicant 21 or older if, after an investigation of up to 45 days, no good cause exists to deny it; statutory disqualifiers include a character and reputation indicating likely danger to public safety.

Pennsylvania may issue a License to Carry Firearms to an out-of-state resident who holds a valid concealed carry permit from their home state, though some county sheriffs do not issue non-resident licenses.

The license requirement in 6106 covers concealed and vehicle carry, but a license or exemption is required to carry a firearm on public streets or property in Philadelphia (6108, declared unconstitutional as applied in Commonwealth v. Sumpter, Pa. Super. 2025) and anywhere during a declared emergency (6107).

Chapter 61 of the Crimes Code (18 Pa.C.S. 6101-6187) contains no provision giving posted no-firearms signs independent legal effect. A person who, knowing he is not licensed or privileged to do so, enters or remains in a place where notice against trespass is given by actual communication or by posting commits defiant trespass under 18 Pa.C.S. 3503(b).

No section of 18 Pa.C.S. Chapter 61 restricts carrying a firearm in a restaurant or bar that serves alcohol or while consuming alcohol; the chapter's only alcohol references concern license disqualification for driving-under-the-influence convictions. A license under 18 Pa.C.S. 6109 authorizes carrying a firearm concealed on the person or in a vehicle throughout the Commonwealth.

DCNR regulation 17 Pa. Code 11.215 bars possessing or uncasing firearms in state parks except for licensed hunting in season, designated target shooting, and storage in a residence, vehicle, trailer or leased campsite building. However, 18 Pa.C.S. 6109(m.2) provides that notwithstanding the Conservation and Natural Resources Act and regulations under it, any licensee or law enforcement officer may carry a firearm as provided in 6109(a), and the Pennsylvania Code notes that 11.215 is abrogated to that extent.

No section of 18 Pa.C.S. Chapter 61 restricts firearms in places of worship, and the school-weapons offense in 18 Pa.C.S. 912 reaches only elementary and secondary schools. A congregation may exclude armed visitors as property owner, and remaining after notice is defiant trespass under 18 Pa.C.S. 3503(b).

18 Pa.C.S. 912 makes weapon possession an offense only at elementary and secondary publicly funded, licensed private and parochial schools, and 18 Pa.C.S. Chapter 61 contains no college or university provision, so state law does not prohibit licensed carry on a college campus. An institution may set its own weapons rules as property owner, enforceable through defiant trespass under 18 Pa.C.S. 3503(b) or its own discipline.

Weapons are prohibited in buildings, on grounds and on transportation of K-12 public, licensed private and parochial schools (with a defense for lawful supervised activities or other lawful purpose) and in court facilities, where counties provide lockers for checking firearms; a license is also required to carry on public property during declared emergencies and in Philadelphia.

An actor not engaged in criminal activity who is attacked where he has a right to be has no duty to retreat and may use deadly force if he believes it immediately necessary to prevent death, serious injury, kidnapping or forcible sexual intercourse and the attacker displays or uses a firearm, replica or other lethal weapon.

Pennsylvania's Crimes Code (Title 18) contains no magazine-capacity limit, and 18 Pa.C.S. 6120 bars counties and municipalities from regulating lawful firearm and ammunition possession.

Pennsylvania's Crimes Code (Title 18) contains no assault-weapons ban, and 18 Pa.C.S. 6120 bars local firearm-possession regulation.

A firearm specially made or adapted for silent discharge is a prohibited "offensive weapon," but compliance with the National Firearms Act is a defense.

The offensive-weapons definition in 18 Pa.C.S. 908(c) names sawed-off shotguns with barrels under 18 inches and firearms made or adapted for silent discharge, but not rifles with short barrels, and 18 Pa.C.S. Chapter 61 contains no short-barreled-rifle provision, so state law does not restrict SBRs beyond federal National Firearms Act requirements. For the weapons 908 does list, 908(b)(1) makes compliance with the National Firearms Act a defense.

A sawed-off shotgun with a barrel under 18 inches is a prohibited "offensive weapon," but compliance with the National Firearms Act is a defense.