Reciprocity Laws are Confusing to me

I live in Kansas, and it says Florida has reciprocity with Kansas. Sometimes it says with exceptions, like only Florida residents can carry. All I want to know is , can I take my gun to Florida on vacation? Confused.

I have a KY license that is honored in Florida, with exceptions. The exception in my case is that OPEN-CARRY is legal in KY, but NOT in Florida. And I MUST reside in the state of my honored license.

Kansas Concealed Carry Gun Laws: USCCA CCW Reciprocity Map(Last Updated 07/01/2021) (usconcealedcarry.com)

Read the Florida laws and you will get a good understanding of what you can do.

Florida Concealed Carry Gun Laws & CWL: USCCA CCW Reciprocity Map(Last Updated 07/01/2021) (usconcealedcarry.com)

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You must have a Kentucky Resident carry permit to be legal in Florida.

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It is confusing on purpose, and is something 2A fighters are trying to solve.

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As far as I can tell, in the free country of Florida, if you are a 21 year old RESIDENT of Kansas and you hold a valid and up to date Kansas Concealed Carry License you may carry concealed in the free country of Florida.

You MAY NOT carry openly, yet! Except for hunting, fishing and camping.
You must be a resident of the issuing state. Hope that helps.

Someday, long after I’m gone, someone will read the constitution and understand that it applies to all states in the union! That’s, of course, if Nancy doesn’t tear it up!

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Florida accepts a Kansas permit only for Kansas residents.

You are fine on that issue.
However, when carrying in another state, you have to follow all of their rules on how and where to carry or not carry. The trick is knowing them. I use the HandGunLaw site for that information.
Here’s the page for Florida:

https://handgunlaw.us/states/florida.pdf](https://handgunlaw.us/states/florida.pdf

Craig

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Florida recognizes your Kansas permit so long as it is a resident permit (you live in KS and get the KS permit).

If you lived in another state besides KS, and managed to get a KS non-resident license, that would not be recognized by FL.

Also, “can I take my gun with me” and “can I carry my gun when I get there” are two different questions that, often, have different answers.

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Constitutional Carry across the Country would solve confusing problems.

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Not to mention a lot of bad guys. I bet we could get all of the fentanyl runners in a day or three.

Not comp;etely. Even if it were lawful to carry open or concealed without a permit in all states and DC, we would still face the myriad varied state-level restraints on where carry is illegal, whether banned carry is a criminal violation or a civli case, how private property owners might ban carry and what that means, as well as whether there is state pre-emption or local autonomy on laws restricting carry or use of firearms.
We have a long way to go in this arena.

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And that, IMO, is the way it HAS to be.

Because…states Rights. States do get to choose their own laws and we do NOT want the federal legislature involved, IMO, in any way, with gun laws that are currently decided at the state level. We can think and hope and wish all we want that bringing the federal legislature into this will make things better, it won’t. Maybe if you live in NY or NJ, but, for most states, I promise it will be an overall backslide if congress gets more say. Just, my opinion…but I don’t want all those reps from CA, HI, NY, NJ, etc, voting on what will or won’t be off limits for carry in KS, WY, GA.

Now, if SCOTUS would make a huge pro Liberty and pro Rights ruling and say the Second Amendment means what it says and make the states abide by it and rule a bunch of laws as unconstitutional, then okay, now we’re talking. But I don’t see SCOTUS telling states they can’t make places off limits.

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The only “say” they have according to our Constitution that Congressional members swore an oath to defend is covered under “shall not be infringed”.

Of course. Technically.

But, in reality…well, is reality. So given that, I’d rather not get them involved in anything, really, generally speaking, at the state level.

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Thanks everyone. All these replies helped. Although I never mentioned carrying in Florida, I’m assuming if I did not have any license to carry in any state, that I could still possess a firearm arm while staying in Florida at my beach rental house to protect from the Manson family kicking down my door in the middle of the night. I think even someone visiting New York or California, this is possible, but am I crazy for assuming this?

Reciprocity refers to recognizing permits/licenses from other states. If you don’t have a license to carry in any state, you have nothing to reciprocate/the reciprocity map color coding is basically meaningless to you.

Carry and possession are different things/different questions.

You don’t necessarily have to have reciprocity (which only applies with a permit in this context) to have a firearm in your domicile while out of state. That depends on the state laws where you are going.

You can possess a firearm in your rental house in FL (assuming you are legally able to possess the firearm to start with) unless there is a FL state law saying you cannot. I am not aware of such a law, but that’s no guarantee. Meaning, as far as I know, you don’t have to have a permit that allows concealed carry of a gun, in order to have a gun (that you legally possess)(that is legal to possess in FL) in your rental house while in FL.

CA is a different animal and NY is an entirely different animal, do not bring a gun with you to NY, period, full stop (okay so there are ways to do so legally, but if you aren’t 100% certain of exactly what they are, don’t)

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Except that the federal law on transport is a positive defense, meaning that you can (the “you” is not you, Nathan57) still be arrested and have to spend a lot of time and money to defend yourself, and it will then get thrown out of court. If you don’t believe an anti-rights prosecutor would do that, you have not been reading the news for at least the past several decades.

I’m not referring to FOPA on that, there are ways to legally bring a gun to NY, but, unless you know, don’t do it. Especially a handgun.

And technically that federal law doesn’t apply bringing a gun “to NY”, it applies bringing a gun “through NY”, where you can lawfully possess it at your origin and destination, and it’s locked unloaded in the trunk/etc, but, you are exactly right, you still may be arrested and charged with felonies and have to prove as an affirmative defense you were legal (NJ too)

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So what ways is it legal without a license/permit? I have done some Internet searches and have not found a legal means to do such.

Were you looking for “gun” as in firearm, including, say, a rifle, possibly for hunting purposes, or were you looking for handguns?

For handguns I have not found a legal means myself. For a rifle, possibly for hunting, I do believe it is possible, but I am not confident enough in what I think I know to tell anybody anything other than “don’t do it” (unless you KNOW and are just that confident in what you know)

Thanks. That clears up a lot about reciprocity.

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