What does the Trip Checker flag?

Three things per stop: whether your permit (or permitless carry) makes carrying legal there, whether the state imposes a duty to inform police, and whether a magazine-capacity limit applies.

What do I do about a state where I can't carry?

Transport instead of carry: federal law (18 USC § 926A) protects transporting an unloaded, locked-up firearm through a state where you have no carry rights, provided you may possess it at both ends of the trip and the stop is genuinely a pass-through.

Is the order of states significant?

Legally each state stands alone, but checking them in driving order shows you exactly where along the route your legal status changes — which is the thing that catches travelers out.

Tool · route check

Concealed Carry Road Trip Checker: Your Permit, State by State

On a road trip, your carry permit is judged by each state you enter: 22 states honor a carry permit from every other state (one of them, Virginia, is due to drop non-qualifying states by December 1, 2026), while 11 jurisdictions honor no out-of-state permit. Along the way, 9 jurisdictions impose a duty to inform police and 13 jurisdictions cap magazine capacity.

Add your stops in order and this tool runs the same verified dataset behind the Carry Map against every one of them — verified 2026-09-27.

Permit issued by

Permit type

Resident Non-resident

Add a stop

Choose your permit state, then add the states on your route in driving order.

The interactive checker needs JavaScript. Without it, use the state profiles — each lists every incoming and outgoing recognition outcome with the same data:

The three things that change at a state line

Whether you can carry at all. Recognition is the destination state's one-way decision. On a long route it is normal for your legal status to flip several times.

Whether you must speak up. Duty-to-inform states require you to tell an officer you are carrying, unprompted, on any official contact. In most other states you only need to answer honestly and show the permit when asked.

What magazine you have loaded. A handful of states cap magazine capacity, and the cap applies to visitors. This is the easiest multi-state mistake to make, because the hardware that is legal at home becomes contraband mid-drive.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Trip Checker flag?: Three things per stop: whether your permit (or permitless carry) makes carrying legal there, whether the state imposes a duty to inform police, and whether a magazine-capacity limit applies.
What do I do about a state where I can't carry?: Transport instead of carry: federal law (18 USC § 926A) protects transporting an unloaded, locked-up firearm through a state where you have no carry rights, provided you may possess it at both ends of the trip and the stop is genuinely a pass-through.
Is the order of states significant?: Legally each state stands alone, but checking them in driving order shows you exactly where along the route your legal status changes — which is the thing that catches travelers out.