Are firearms legal in Pennsylvania?

Q: Are firearms legal in Pennsylvania?

Firearms in Pennsylvania are legal only under specific conditions. A License to Carry Firearms (LTCF) is required to carry a firearm concealed or in a vehicle outside your home or fixed place of business. You must be 21 or older to apply. A county sheriff, or the police chief in Philadelphia, issues it for five years. There is no permitless concealed carry. Carrying without a license is a third-degree felony, or a first-degree misdemeanor if you were otherwise eligible and broke no other law.

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PENNSYLVANIA · FIREARMS

Firearms

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Conditional: A License to Carry Firearms (LTCF) is required to carry a firearm concealed or in a vehicle outside your home or fixed place of business.

Conditional

Summary

A License to Carry Firearms (LTCF) is required to carry a firearm concealed or in a vehicle outside your home or fixed place of business. You must be 21 or older to apply. A county sheriff, or the police chief in Philadelphia, issues it for five years. There is no permitless concealed carry. Carrying without a license is a third-degree felony, or a first-degree misdemeanor if you were otherwise eligible and broke no other law.

Source: pa.gov → · Updated October 12, 2026

Pennsylvania Firearms topics

Concealed Carry in Pennsylvania →Conditional
A License to Carry Firearms (LTCF) is required to carry a firearm concealed or in a vehicle outside your home or fixed place of business.
Open Carry in Pennsylvania →Conditional
At 18 or older, you may carry a handgun openly on foot in most of Pennsylvania without a license.
Magazine Capacity in Pennsylvania →Permitted
No state law limits magazine capacity in Pennsylvania — standard-capacity and high-capacity magazines are legal to buy and possess under state law.
Gun Possession in Pennsylvania →Permitted
Pennsylvania has no red-flag law (also called an Extreme Risk Protection Order, or ERPO), and no assault-weapon ban or state-level restriction on magazines.
Transporting Firearms in Pennsylvania →Conditional
Without a Pennsylvania license, carrying a handgun in a vehicle is a third-degree felony unless an exception applies (a first-degree misdemeanor if you were otherwise eligible and broke no other law).
Duty to Inform Police in Pennsylvania →Conditional
Pennsylvania has no proactive duty to inform, but when carrying a firearm concealed on the person or in a vehicle, a licensee must produce the license for inspection on the lawful demand of a law-enforcement officer (18 Pa.C.S. § 6122(a)); failure to produce it creates a rebuttable presumption of non-licensure.
Suppressors & Silencers in Pennsylvania →Conditional
Suppressors are legal in Pennsylvania once you register them with the federal government.
Reciprocity — where is my Pennsylvania permit honored? →
State-by-state map of which states honor a Pennsylvania concealed-carry permit.

Other Pennsylvania laws

Firearms in nearby states

Browse all state laws →

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