North Dakota Becomes A Permitless Carry State! Congratulations!

BILLINGS, NORTH DAKOTA — Even as the Governor of South Dakota prepared his statement after vetoing permitless concealed carry in the sate, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed it into law. House Bill 1169 arrived on his desk and was signed into law on Friday.

via the North Dakota Governor’s website

“North Dakota has a rich heritage of hunting and a culture of deep respect for firearm safety. As a hunter and gun owner myself, I strongly support gun rights for law-abiding citizens,” Burgum said. “House Bill 1169 allows citizens to exercise their Second Amendment right under the U.S. Constitution. It also is consistent with the North Dakota Constitution, which declares in Article I that all individuals have the inalienable right ‘to keep and bear arms for the defense of their person, family, property, and the state, and for lawful hunting, recreational, and other lawful purposes, which shall not be infringed.’ ”

North Dakota will still maintain its current framework for Class 1 and Class 2 concealed carry permits. The bill specifies that so long as someone has a state-issued driver’s license from Montana and would otherwise qualify for a Class 2 permit, he or she may carry a handgun without a permit.

This law, in many ways, mirrors Idaho’s own codes in respect to permitless carry. It only applies to residents who are otherwise legally allowed to possess firearms and it is only good up to the state line.

Both Idaho and North Dakota have multiple classes of concealed carry permit. In North Dakota, there are two classes of permit: Class 1 and Class 2. Class 2 is the easier of the two to obtain, requires no formal training requirement, has an open book test, and a background criminal history check. Class 1 requires a training component among additional requirements.

This law makes North Dakota the most recent addition to the permitless carry legislative push across the country. North Dakota and New Hampshire make just the two most recent states to no longer require their residents to have a permit to carry a gun in 2017.

While many state legislatures propose permitless carry measures, very few make it through both the House and Senate. States like Utah and Nevada have a staunch record in striking down attempts to institute permitless carry.

For those traveling outside of North Dakota, they will still need to obtain a concealed permit. North Dakota has one of the best reciprocity rates for their Class 1 licenses. These permits are only open to residents of the state and are recognized in a vast majority of states that otherwise choose to denigrate the validity of out-of-state concealed carry permits.

While Governor Burgum expressed his sincere pleasure with this new bill, he has instructed the government to keep a close watch on public safety to see how permitless concealed carry changes the game in North Dakota. Based upon preliminary data coming back from the National Security Council, incidences of accidental deaths due to firearms continues to drop to record lows.

As more states pursue permitless concealed carry options for their residents, we will see how those statistics progress.