POSSESSION 

No state permit is required for the possession of a 

rifle, shotgun, or handgun. 

It is unlawful for an adult to provide a firearm to a 

child or for a child to possesses a firearm except while the 

child is:

• attending a hunter safety or firearms safety course 

and an adult is supervising the child during the 

course; 

• target shooting at an established range or in an area 

where the discharge of a firearm is not prohibited 

or supervised by a qualified firearms instructor or 

adult while at the range; 

• engaging in an organized firearm competition or 

practicing for a performance by an organized group 

that uses firearms as a part of a performance; 

• lawfully hunting or trapping with a license; 

• traveling with an unloaded firearm to or from an 

activity described in this section; 

• on real property that is under the control of the 

child’s parent, an adult family member, or legal 

guardian and has permission from the child’s 

parent or legal guardian to possess a firearm;

• at the child’s residence and has the permission of 

the child’s parent, an adult family member or legal 

guardian to possess a firearm.  

It is unlawful to possess a firearm on school property, 

property used for a school function, or a school bus.  This 

prohibition shall not apply to a person who may legally 

possesses a firearm and possess the firearm in a motor 

vehicle while transporting another person to or from 

school or a school function.

CARRYING

No person shall carry a handgun in any vehicle or on or 

about his person without a license being in his possession. 

Exceptions to carrying without a license include: 

• carrying in one’s dwelling; on one’s property or 

fixed place of business; 

• law enforcement officers and authorized 

corrections and judicial officers; military personnel 

while on duty; regularly enrolled members of any 

organization authorized to purchase or receive 

weapons from the U.S. or from Indiana while they 

are at or going to or from their place of assembly 

or target practice; 

• employees of the U.S. duly authorized to carry 

handguns; express company employees when 

engaged in company business; 

• persons engaged in the firearms business in the 

usual or ordinary course of that business; 

• or any person while carrying a handgun unloaded 

and in a secure wrapper from the place of purchase 

to their home or business or to and from a place 

of repair or in moving from one place of abode or 

business to another.

An application for a license to carry a handgun 

must be made to the chief law enforcement officer of 

the municipality where the applicant resides, or to the 

sheriff of the county where the applicant resides or has a 

regular place of business or employment.  The application 

contains identifying information on the applicant such 

as: name, address, length of residence in the community, 

occupation, age, race, nationality, any criminal record, 

height and weight, and reason for desiring a license. The 

officer to whom the application is made shall conduct 

an investigation into the applicant’s official records 

and verify his character, reputation, and information 

contained in the application. The information together 

with his recommendation and one set of fingerprints are 

forwarded to the Indiana State Police Superintendent. The 

superintendent may make whatever further investigation 

he deems necessary. If it appears to the superintendent 

that the applicant has a proper reason for carrying a 

handgun and is of good character and reputation and a 

“proper person” to be so licensed, he shall issue either a 

qualified or an unlimited license to carry any handgun 

lawfully possessed by the applicant.  

Licenses to carry handguns shall be either qualified 

or unlimited and are valid for 4 years or for the lifetime 

of the individual receiving the license. Proper reasons 

for a qualified license are hunting and target practice. 

Unlimited licenses shall be issued for the purpose of 

protection of life and property. The superintendent may 

adopt rules imposing limitations on the use and carrying 

of handguns by a license holder who carries a handgun as 

a condition of his employment.

The term “proper person” includes a person : 

• who is 18 and has not been convicted of a crime 

which carries a sentence in excess of 1 year; 

• who is not a drug or alcohol abuser, does not 

have a reputation or propensity for violence or

instability; 

• who has not made a false statement of material 

fact on his application; 

• does not have a conviction for resisting law 

enforcement or of violating Indiana’s weapon  

laws within 5 years of the application; and 

• does not have an adjudication as a delinquent child 

for an act that would be a felony if committed by 

an adult if the applicant is less that 23.  

Reputation and propensity may be established without 

necessarily showing a violation of the law resulting in a 

conviction.  An arrest for a Class A or Class B felony, or 

other felony that was committed while armed or involved 

violence, may be used to deny a license even if there was 

no conviction, if the court has found probable cause to 

believe that the person committed the offense.

Every initial application will be granted or 

rejected within sixty days by the Indiana State Police 

Superintendent. Renewal of an existing license may 

be filed 365 days before the expiration of the existing 

license.  An application for renewal filed within thirty 

days of expiration automatically extends the existing 

license until the application for renewal has been decided. 

If an application for a license to carry has been denied, 

a request for a hearing before the superintendent may 

be made. Should the denial be upheld at the hearing, an 

appeal may be taken to the circuit court. 

The application fees consist of separate local and 

state fees.  The fees for a four-year unlimited (Personal 

Protection) license is $10 local and $30 state. The fee 

for a four-year qualified (Hunting and Target) license for 

hunting and target practice is $10 local and $5 state. A 

person applying for a lifetime Personal Protection license 

who does not currently possess a valid license, a $50 local 

and a $75 state fee is required, $30 of which shall be 

refunded if the license is not issued.  A person applying 

for a lifetime Personal Protection license who currently 

possesses a valid license, a $40 local and $60 state fee is 

required, $30 of which shall be refunded if the license is 

not issued. The lifetime Hunting and Target license fees 

are $50 local and $25 state if the applicant does not have 

a current valid license.  With a current valid license, the 

fees are $40 local and $20 state for the lifetime Hunting 

and Target license.  Honorably retired state and U.S. law 

enforcement officers with an equivalent 20 years of service 

or those retired with a disability pay no fees.

The superintendent shall have the authority 

to suspend at any time any license issued upon having 

reasonable grounds to believe that the person’s license 

should be suspended or revoked. 

Licenses to carry handguns, issued by other states 

or foreign countries, will be recognized according to the 

terms thereof but only while the holders are not residents 

of Indiana. 

With the exceptions of limitations on carrying during 

game seasons, state law is silent on the issue of carrying

rifles and shotguns.

Prohibits a person, including an individual, 

corporation, and a government entity, from adopting 

or enforcing a rule that prohibits an employee of the 

person from legally possessing a firearm or ammunition 

that is locked in the trunk of an employee’s vehicle while 

the person’s vehicle is on the person’s property, unless 

the firearm or ammunition requires a federal license to 

possess. 

ANTIQUES AND REPLICAS 

The chapter of Indiana’s code concerning regulation 

of handguns does not apply to any firearm not designed to 

use fixed cartridges or fixed ammunition, or any firearm 

made in or before 1899. Inoperable handguns cannot be 

carried as they meet the definition of a handgun.

MACHINE GUNS AND SAWED-OFF SHOTGUNS 

The following persons may possess machine guns: 

members of the armed forces, approved government 

agencies and law enforcement while on duty; machine 

guns kept as relics for display that are harmless and 

unusable; persons possessing or having applied to possess 

machine guns under applicable U.S. statutes as long as 

said machine guns are transferred in compliance with 

Indiana law; and persons engaged in a business that 

involves machine guns while or when acting within the 

scope of and in furtherance of such business.

It is unlawful to manufacture, import, sell, give, lend, 

or possess a sawed-off shotgun. This does not apply to 

law enforcement officers acting in their official duties 

or persons, who manufacture, import, or sell sawed-off 

shotguns to law enforcement agencies.  

MISCELLANEOUS 

Local government, with a few exceptions, may not 

regulate the ownership, possession, sale, transfer, or transportation of firearms or ammunition.

Information submitted by a person to obtain or renew 

a license to carry a handgun is to be confidential, may not 

be published, and is not open to public inspection unless the federal, state, or local government entity is in the 

course of investigation concerning a person who applied 

to obtain or renew their license to carry a handgun. 

No person shall make any loan secured by a mortgage, 

deposit, or pledge of a handgun. 

No person shall change, alter, remove, or obliterate 

the name of the maker, model, manufacturer’s serial number, or other mark of identification on any handgun, or 

possess such handgun, except as provided by applicable 

United States statute. 

 It is a felony to recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally 

perform an act creating a substantial risk of bodily injury or to Inflict bodily Injury while armed with a deadly 

weapon. It is a felony to haze another person while armed 

with a deadly weapon. It is a felony to riot while armed 

with a deadly weapon.

It is unlawful to possess, transfer or manufacture 

handgun ammunition “that has a metal core and an outer 

coating of plastic.” This does not apply to nylon-coated 

ammunition, plastic shot capsules, or ammunition designed to be used in rifles or shotguns. Law enforcement 

officers acting in the course of their official duties or persons who manufacture, import, or sell such ammunition 

to law enforcement agencies are excepted. 

It is unlawful to shoot upon or across a road. 

Unless designated as a hunting, firearm sport, or archery area, it is unlawful to discharge a firearm inside a 

park that falls within the jurisdiction of a county board. 

A person shall not operate an “off road vehicle” or a 

snowmobile while transporting a firearm, unless unloaded 

and securely encased or equipped with and made inoperative by a key lock trigger housing mechanism. 

A student who is in possession of a firearm upon 

school property must be expelled.

Subject to certain narrow exceptions, no person may 

bring an action against a firearms or ammunition manufacturer, trade association or seller for recovery of damages, injunctive relief or abatement of nuisance relating 

to the lawful design, manufacture, marketing or sale of a 

firearm or ammunition, or for recovery of damages resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a firearm or 

ammunition by a third party.

SOURCES: IC 10-14-3-12; 14- 22- 6-9; 14-22-6-10; 14-16-1- 23; 20-8.1-

5.1- 10; 34-12-3-3; 35 42-2-1; 35-45-1.2; 35-47-1; 35- 47-2; 35- 47-3; 

35- 47-4; 35- 47-5; 35- 47-6; 35- 47-7; 35- 47-8; 35- 47-9; 35- 47-10; 35- 

47-11; 36-10-3-39