Difference in Concealed Carry Permit Range Requirements by State

[ParrotHead]

I am getting ready to take my CCDW class in a couple of weeks. In Ky., the range requirement appears to be 11 out of 20 anywhere on a full silhouette target at 7 yds.

I was wondering how this compares to other states?

 

[brcombs]

In New Mexico, 15 @ 3yards and 10 @ 7 yards. The target is 12"X18" and you have to score 72 or higher. Each shot is worth 4 points. If you can't score in the 90's, you shouldn't pass IMO!!

 

[Retired Grunt]

In NY no range time required. I guess it's a case of can you pay enough money, wait enough time, and pass enough background checks and have a 2A judge in your county...etc.. no proof of firearams ability required... I had to pay for a "pistol course" 30 bucks to have a local chief of police explain with visual aids the difference between a pistol and a revolver...Never touched on the laws of CCW or pistol ownership in general in NY. I still want my money back

 

[MI .45]

Michigan - 70% to pass; various distances (principally 7 yds); 8 1/2 X 11" target hit anywhere. 100 rds was required in the course I took but I don't know what state law actually requires.
I'm with brcombs, it should be 90% to pass.
We also allow people to qualify using a .22, which of course is a non real world self defence round. IMO one should have to qualify with a firearm that has a bit of recoil so that candidates have some idea what a genuine self defence weapon actually feels like when fired.
I'm as big of a 2A supporter as there is out here but I'd certainly make the qualifications more difficult in order to create a safer and more knowledgeable concealed carrier.
My .02...

 

[ldsgeek]

New Hampshire

No training or range requirements at all. Open carry (except in a vehicle) without a permit.

 

[starbasessd]

Indiana: no requirements either range or law. Only need to pay your fees, pass a city or county background, then pass the state background. Doesn't even require a picture, just fingerprints...

 

[PCADaveinPhila]

Re: Range Requirements

In PA there is NO requirement for training. I personnaly feel there should be one though. In Philadelphia there is a gun store right across the street from where you get you LTCF, the worst thing about it is that a few years back that store topped the FBI's list of stores in this area for "bulk purchases" and weapons sold that were used in crimes. I think the ONLY reason he was not shut down was because he knows the "right" people(politicians) and LE.

 

[Yarddawg]

No range requirements in VA. Just as it should be!

 

[homershoots]

In South Carolina it's 10rnds each at 3,5,7,10,15yards for a total of 50 and are done with some slow and some rapid fire. Not sure what's needed to pass, I got 100 and the wife a 97. Was fairly easy.

 

[Jarheadcool]

Arkansas it,s safety not accuracy

 

[cardinalfan]

In Missouri, it's 15 out of 20 anywhere in the black on a B-27 silhoutte target at 7 yards. You can do it with your eyes closed.

 

[sailor]

One more info on New Mexico. Original NM post is correct, but then you have to go through a "refresher course" in two years, then again to renew in four years from the initial test. Only state to do that, as far as I know. My Washington state CPL (non-resident this time) was fingerprint, drivers license, $60 - and do it at a Washington county sheriffs office - for a five year license. I do feel that safety and gun handling training are a useful thing, but I also don't like so much government control over a RIGHT.

 

[ohio pat]

Ohio Supreme Court Decision

Just an fyi
Gun Control Rejected in Cleveland, Ohio, from Gun Digest, February 14, 2011 edition, The Supreme Court of Ohio …rejected Cleveland’s attempt to retain its own gun control laws. In a 5-2 majority opinion, the justices upheld a 2006 state law that says only federal or state regulations can limit an Ohioan’s individual right to bear arms.
The ruling effectively upended Cleveland’s ban on so-called “assault weapns,” passed in 2006. In addition, “The ruling displaces all local gun-control ordinances previously adopted by Ohio Municipalities under the Ohio Constitution and does not violate the separation of powers doctrine.

This court decision follows U S Supreme Court cases where the individual has the right and the right is not that of a state to form a militia.

The impact will be a simpler understanding by the ccw holder that unless (in Ohio's Case", banned premises are listed in the law) he/she is entering a banned premise there is no concern.

A greater impact will be the ability of a ccw holder that lives in a municipality that previously had banned high capacity magazines they can now be delivered there. It may take awhile for retailers to do that but it should come.

I have written in the past that the ccw holder has an obligation to carry his/her firearm concealed, no indicators by clothing-revolver print on the pocket, firearm print in the waist ban, etc.

Pat Olvey
email [email protected] or [email protected]

 

[jlperryusa]

Tennessee

In Tennessee, 33 of 48 anywhere in the black on a B27 target at varying ranges of 3,5,7,10 and 15 yards.

 

[S&W645]

In Florida, just show that you can safely load, fire, and unload the gun at the range. They get to chose the gun. Test gun was a .22 revolver that day. After the class I went in and ran 50 rounds thru my .45 semi-auto.

 

[billwot]

I don't know what the state requirements are, but in my training class, it was 50 rds at 3, 5, and 7 yards, mixed slow and rapid fire. Passing score was 40 rds anywhere on the paper (22 1/2 x 35 Assn of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors target)

I scored 50 out of 50 with a 4" barrel Taurus model 66 shooting .38 SWCs.

 

[fuhr52]

In Oregon it's a safety class. May or may not include range time.

 

[brolin1911a1]

In Missouri, it's 15 out of 20 anywhere in the black on a B-27 silhoutte target at 7 yards. You can do it with your eyes closed.

True. Like you, I had to try it to prove it to myself. <grin> Hopefully you put all twenty into that target at that range. <bigger grin>

The range requirement was put into the law to satisfy certain St. Louis-area lawmakers who felt that some accuracy requirement was necessary. Originally said lawmakers pushed for a full police qualification PPC course of fire out to fifty yards. It was pointed out during House committee hearings that the instructors were going to teach beginner shooters that deadly force was allowed only when in reasonable fear of one's life which generally meant within 7yds. A subsequent 25yd and 50yd qualification course of fire would serve to undo that newly taught limitation in the students' minds. So it was shortened to 7yds.

2. A certificate of firearms safety training course completion may be issued to any applicant by any qualified firearms safety instructor. On the certificate of course completion the qualified firearms safety instructor shall affirm that the individual receiving instruction has taken and passed a firearms safety course of at least eight hours in length taught by the instructor that included:

(1) Handgun safety in the classroom, at home, on the firing range and while carrying the firearm;

(2) A physical demonstration performed by the applicant that demonstrated his or her ability to safely load and unload a revolver and a semiautomatic pistol and demonstrated his or her marksmanship with both;

(3) The basic principles of marksmanship;

(4) Care and cleaning of concealable firearms;

(5) Safe storage of firearms at home;

(6) The requirements of this state for obtaining a certificate of qualification for a concealed carry endorsement from the sheriff of the individual's county of residence and a concealed carry endorsement issued by the department of revenue;

(7) The laws relating to firearms as prescribed in this chapter;

(8) The laws relating to the justifiable use of force as prescribed in chapter 563;

(9) A live firing exercise of sufficient duration for each applicant to fire a handgun, from a standing position or its equivalent, a minimum of fifty rounds at a distance of seven yards from a B-27 silhouette target or an equivalent target;

(10) A live fire test administered to the applicant while the instructor was present of twenty rounds from a standing position or its equivalent at a distance from a B-27 silhouette target, or an equivalent target, of seven yards.

Interestingly, since the law was passed and in spite of those who call for more strict or more involved training requirements, I've noticed that there seems to be no perceptible difference in CCW safety between states with stringent training requirements and states with little or no training required.

 

[pj_england]

AR & WA - proficient

I passed classes in both Arkansas and Washington. For both, the instructor certified the student is proficient. Each instructor had me shoot 5 rounds into a 8.5 x11 paper at 7 ft in a tight group. After that he said put 20 more into the page and spread them around, it looks better when he goes to court.

His reasoning, don't give the procecutor the option to say you why you did not wing the assailant, your training target indicates you are a great shot.

 

[brolin1911a1]

His reasoning, don't give the prosecutor the option to say you why you did not wing the assailant, your training target indicates you are a great shot.

The answer to such a question from a prosecutor is ridiculously simple and will make said prosecutor look as ignorant as she is: "My training target was stationary and not rushing at me with a weapon and giving every indication it was going to do its best to kill me so I had more time to aim."

One of my very first CCW students was a lady who confided near the end of the class that "I could never shoot to kill anyone. I'd just shoot for an arm or a leg." I let it go for the time being until we were on the range. The range is a converted shed on rural property lined on three sides with steel plate covered with straw bales to contain splatter.

After everyone had fired the legally required 50 training rounds and 20rds qualification, I hung a 2-liter bottle full of sand in front of the backstop, hanging it from a rafter. I then took a long piece of parachute cord tied to the bottle back to the firing line. I told the woman who'd said she'd "shoot for an arm or a leg" to take her place on the line in the ready position. When I give the word, I said, I want you to shoot this bottle, about the size of an upper leg, as many times as you can in the 1.5 seconds it would take a real attacker to get to you from that distance.

I pulled the string and set the bottle swinging rather erratically, said "Fire" and actually gave her two or three seconds. She didn't get one hit. I then explained to her and to the watching class that this is the reason you shoot for center of mass. Real world threats move and move fast. Real worlds threats induce stress which causes loss of coordination. And it takes a whole lot more practice and training than just your state-required CCW course to allow you to shoot those tiny groups under stress that are so easy to shoot while under controlled range conditions.

IANAL, but there are a plethora of training videos and literature that your defense lawyer could introduce as evidence to show that a prosecutor such as you describe has her head stuck on the wrong end of her torso.