Concealed Carry In the United States - Legal Issues
(from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Legal Liability & Vehicle Carry
State Permit Issue Policies
Concealed Carry Statistics
CCW Effects on Crime
Politics
Legal Liability:
In some states liability is present where the licensee brandishes the weapon, threatens use, or exacerbates a volatile situation, or when the licensee is carrying while intoxicated. While state laws vary, generally use of deadly force must be a matter of last resort, when life or limb is endangered, when escape or retreat are foreclosed, and warnings are given but ignored.
However, increased passage of "Castle Doctrine" laws allow persons who own firearms and/or carry them concealed to also use them to protect property, and/or to use them without first attempting to retreat.
Even given these relaxed restrictions on use of force, using a handgun must still be a last resort in some jurisdictions; the user must reasonably believe that nothing short of deadly force will protect the life or property at stake in a situation. And even with Castle Doctrine laws in place, civil liabilities for errors that cause harm to another still exist, although civil immunity is provided in the Castle Doctrine laws of some states, e.g., Texas.
Carry in Vehicles:
Some states allow the concealed carry of a handgun in a vehicle by people who lack a permit to carry concealed. In some states, for instance, Vermont, carry of a loaded firearm in a vehicle is allowed whether in plain sight or concealed. Also note that in Vermont no permit is currently required to carry a firearm. If you can legally purchase a handgun you can carry it concealed. In others, like Texas, the handgun must be concealed, or alternately as in Virginia, it must be plainly visible. In still others, such as Kentucky, the handgun may either be in plain sight or in a vehicle's glove compartment, although carry anywhere else in the vehicle's passenger compartment (including a center console) requires a concealed carry permit. In still others, such as California, Maryland and New Jersey, transport of a gun in a vehicle without a CCW permit is only allowed if the gun is unloaded and secured out of reach of the driver and passengers. Other states, such as Florida, have no restrictions as to the location of a concealed handgun for those without a CCW permit as long as it is "securely encased" (i.e., in a snapped holster, among other options) and that it is not on one's person (i.e., not in the person's manual possession). This does not alter the person's right to concealed carry on one's person outside the car unless one holds a valid CCW permit. In Florida, it is illegal to have a handgun visible and in an unsnapped holster inside a car. On the other hand, for holders of a valid CCW permit in Florida, it is legal to have a weapon concealed on one's person while inside one's private conveyance (vehicle, car, aircraft, or boat), or concealed in one's private conveyance, whether or not a snapped holster is used.
The doctrine of allowing weapons to be kept in a vehicle, especially if kept in a ready state, is often called the "traveler assumption" in states which have it because an officer must assume a person carrying a weapon in their car is transporting it, pre-empting all but probable cause on the part of the officer that the person has or intends to commit a crime. Previously, states such as Texas specified that a person traveling is exempt from the statute, but the definition of "traveling" was not provided statutorily, allowing for varied interpretation by officers and the judiciary.
The traveler assumption is sometimes combined with "Castle Doctrine", which states in general terms that "a man's home is his castle, and he has the right not to be forced to retreat from it, and to defend it with deadly force if such need arises". The combination extends these two rights to a person's vehicle, and also makes it feasible to defend oneself by allowing the availability of a firearm. A person being carjacked perhaps, for example, could be justified under such a combination of laws in using deadly force to repel the attack, and could, to that end, keep a firearm in the vehicle that could be readily used.
The general guideline is that laws regarding concealed carry of firearms in vehicles vary from state to state, and even within some jurisdictions within a given state, for those states in which state laws do not include pre-emption over local ordinances regarding firearms. Additionally, officers may be ignorant of the applicability or enforceability of certain laws and may ticket, summons or arrest a person who is in fact acting lawfully.