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Alaska Concealed Carry Permit

Alaska allows permitless carry for non-prohibited adults 21+. A ACHP is still available and is what other states recognize.

Permitless carry is legal in Alaska

A non-prohibited adult aged 21 or older may carry a concealed handgun without a permit (since 2003). DPS states verbatim: 'Alaska's laws do not prohibit anyone 21 or older who may legally possess a firearm from carrying it concealed or open. A firearms permit is not required.' AS 11.61.220(a)(6) makes it a class B misdemeanor for a person UNDER 21 to knowingly carry a concealed deadly weapon (affirmative defenses: in the person's own dwelling or on appurtenant land, or actually engaged in lawful hunting/fishing/trapping or other lawful outdoor activity that necessarily involves carrying a weapon for personal protection). DUTY TO INFORM: under AS 11.61.220(a)(1) a person 21+ carrying concealed commits a class B misdemeanor if, when contacted by a peace officer, they fail to immediately inform the officer of the possession or fail to allow/secure the weapon at the officer's direction; it is also an offense to carry concealed inside another person's residence without the express permission of an adult residing there. Carry remains barred anywhere state or federal law prohibits handgun possession (loaded firearm where liquor is sold for on-premises consumption, court facilities, licensed child care facilities, state-funded DV/sexual assault shelters, schools/federal buildings). The ACHP is optional; its main benefits are out-of-state reciprocity and the ATF 'NICS Exempt' designation.

Getting the permit anyway is still worth it for most people: other states recognize the permit, not your residency, so without one you generally cannot carry across state lines.

AS 11.61.220 (misconduct involving weapons in the fifth degree); permit requirement for concealed carry removed by ch. 62, SLA 2003 (HB 102, 'Concealed Deadly Weapons')

There are 9 details on this page we could not confirm from a primary source. Read what they are before relying on this.

Requirements at a glance

Permit name Alaska Concealed Handgun Permit
Issuing authority Alaska Department of Public Safety, Division of Statewide Services — Permits and Licensing Unit
System shall-issue
Minimum age 21 — 21 for both permitless carry and for an ACHP (AS 18.65.705(1)). DPS states there is "no exception to the minimum age requirement, regardless of job profession or permit status of another state" — an out-of-state permit issued to an 18-20 year old does NOT authorize concealed carry in Alaska.
Training required Yes — 12 hours, live fire required
State fee $87 initial / $25 renewal — the state's own charge, not the total
Valid for 5 years
Processing time 30 days. AS 18.65.700(b) requires DPS to approve or reject within 30 days of receipt; if fingerprint results have not come back by day 30 and the applicant is otherwise eligible, DPS must issue a conditional permit subject to immediate revocation. Form 12-299A: "Complete applications will be processed within 30 days of receipt."
Fingerprints Required
Non-resident permit Not available

What it actually costs

The state fee is rarely the whole bill. Fingerprinting is usually charged by a private vendor, training is bought from an instructor, and several states add photographs, notarisation or other requirements on top.

State fee $87
Fingerprinting $15–$45 — our estimate; no vendor publishes a rate
Training course $75–$250 (private instructor)
Realistic total $177–$382 — includes an estimated component

The $87 is already an all-in state figure: 13 AAC 30.040(a)(1) sets the base permit at $40 and adds fingerprint processing under 13 AAC 68.900, and AS 18.65.720 caps the whole thing at $99. What is left outside it is the fee charged by the vendor who rolls the prints, which no one publishes and which the total above therefore estimates. Alaska requires no permit to carry, so the $87 and the 12-hour course with live fire buy recognition elsewhere, not permission here.

New permit $87.00, non-refundable, payable by personal check, cashier's check, or money order to State of Alaska (DPS page and Form 12-299A Rev. 1/2025). Underlying regulation 13 AAC 30.040(a)(1) sets the base new-permit fee at $40 plus fingerprint-processing fees under 13 AAC 68.900; $87 is the current all-in figure DPS collects. Renewal filed in the 90 days before expiration: $25. Late renewal (after expiration, up to 60 days): $50. Replacement: $25. Name change requiring a new permit: $25. Address change: free. Fingerprint vendors charge their own separate fee. Statutory caps (AS 18.65.720): $99 initial, $30 renewal/replacement.

How to apply

  1. Confirm you qualify under AS 18.65.705 and read AS 18.65.700–18.65.790 and 13 AAC 30.010–13 AAC 30.900 (your signature affirms you have read them).
  2. Complete a DPS-approved handgun competency course (minimum 12 hours, includes a live-fire competence test) within the 12 months before you apply and keep the completion certificate. The list of approved courses is available from the DPS Permits and Licensing Unit on request — no online or out-of-state correspondence course is accepted.
  3. Get one complete set of fingerprints on a standard 8" x 8" FBI Applicant Fingerprint Card, rolled by a DPS-approved technician/agency or a law enforcement agency (approved vendor list: https://dps.alaska.gov/approved-fingerprinters/).
  4. Obtain one frontal-view color photograph, head and shoulders, at least 2" x 2", taken within the preceding 30 days.
  5. Complete Form 12-299A (Application for a New Concealed Handgun Permit) in black ink. Optionally also complete Form 12-299-89 if you want the permit marked 'NICS Exempt.'
  6. Apply IN PERSON at an office of the Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Wildlife Troopers, or an authorized municipal police department, showing a valid Alaska driver's license or ID card.
  7. Submit the $87.00 non-refundable fee with the application, training certificate, fingerprint card, and photograph.
  8. DPS approves or rejects within 30 days; a conditional permit issues if fingerprint results are still pending. Rejections may be appealed to the commissioner, then judicially reviewed under AS 44.62.560–44.62.570.
  9. Renew within the 90 days before expiration using Form 12-299-84 with a new photo and $25 (mail, delivery service, or in person). Late renewal up to 60 days after expiration costs $50; after 60 days you must start over as a new applicant, including a new competency course.

Apply on the official Alaska site

What disqualifies you

Where to get the required training

Alaska does not publish a central list of certified instructors. Confirm directly with Alaska Department of Public Safety, Division of Statewide Services — Permits and Licensing Unit that a course will be accepted before you pay for it.

Training providers in Alaska

Businesses in our directory that offer firearms training. These are not state-verified as certified permit instructors — check against the official list above, or ask the provider directly.

All firearms training in Alaska →

Reciprocity

Carrying into Alaska

Alaska recognizes permits from 49 other jurisdictions.

Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wyoming

34 jurisdictions honor a Alaska permit

Derived from what each of those states officially publishes.

Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wyoming

Official Alaska reciprocity page Full reciprocity matrix →

Building your own in Alaska

Build for personal use
Allowed
Serial number required
No

Alaska has no statute prohibiting a person from privately manufacturing a firearm for personal use, and no state law requires a serial number, state registration, or a permit to build one. AS 44.99.500(a) declares that a personal firearm 'manufactured commercially or privately in this state and that remains in the state is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration.' AS 44.99.500(e) makes unenforceable in Alaska any federal statute/rule effective on or after June 21, 2013 that requires a firearm, magazine, or accessory to be registered. ONE MARKING REQUIREMENT: AS 44.99.500(c) provides that 'a firearm manufactured or sold in this state and not subject to federal regulation under this section must have the words "Made in Alaska" clearly stamped on a central metallic part, such as the receiver or frame' — a Made-in-Alaska stamp, not a serial number. CAUTION: AS 44.99.500 is a Firearms Freedom Act-type statute purporting to place intrastate-made firearms outside federal jurisdiction; federal courts have rejected that theory for materially identical state laws (e.g. U.S. v. Stone, 9th Cir. 2013, on Montana's act), so federal law — the Gun Control Act, the National Firearms Act, and ATF's frame-and-receiver rule — continues to apply regardless of state law. Nothing in Alaska law authorizes a prohibited person to build or possess a firearm.

AS 44.99.500 (Alaska Firearms Freedom Act); AS 44.99.500(c) ('Made in Alaska' stamp); AS 44.99.500(e) (no registration mandates)

Federal law, gunsmithing schools, and tools →

Statutes

What we could not confirm

  • DPS publishes NO list of jurisdictions whose permits Alaska recognizes. The 49-state honors list is derived from the blanket language of AS 18.65.748 ('another state or a political subdivision of another state'), not from an official enumeration. Treat it as a reading of the statute, not an agency list.
  • Whether a District of Columbia concealed carry license or a US territory (PR, GU, VI, MP, AS) license counts as a permit from 'another state or a political subdivision of another state' under AS 18.65.748 is not addressed by DPS or the statute; I could not confirm it either way, so those jurisdictions are omitted from the honors array. Low practical stakes, since permitless carry covers any non-prohibited person 21+.
  • Alaska publishes no online registry of approved handgun courses or certified instructors. AS 18.65.715(d) and 13 AAC 30.070 require DPS to maintain the list, and both the DPS page and Form 12-299A say it is 'available from the Permits and Licensing Unit upon request.' instructorRegistryUrl is therefore null, not merely unfound.
  • The $87 new-permit fee comes from the DPS page and Form 12-299A (Rev. 1/2025); the regulation 13 AAC 30.040(a)(1) still reads '$40 plus the fees required for fingerprint processing under 13 AAC 68.900.' I did not independently verify the current 13 AAC 68.900 fingerprint-processing amount making up the remainder, and fingerprint technicians charge their own separate fee that DPS does not set.
  • Exact effective date of permitless carry: the akleg bill record shows HB 102 became CHAPTER 62 SLA 03 with a status date of 06/11/2003, and the statute text carries repealers marked '[Repealed, sec. 7 ch 62 SLA 2003].' The commonly cited effective date of September 9, 2003 (90 days after enactment) was NOT confirmed from a primary source; only the year 2003 is confirmed.
  • 13 AAC 30.070 sets a 12-hour curriculum minimum for course APPROVAL. I found no official statement of a minimum round count or a separate live-fire hour requirement; the live-fire conclusion rests on AS 18.65.715(a)(4) ('physical competence with a handgun') read together with the marksmanship standard in AS 18.65.790(2).
  • AS 44.99.500(c)'s 'Made in Alaska' stamping requirement has not, so far as I could find, been construed by DPS, the Alaska Attorney General, or any court as applied to a firearm privately built solely for personal use (as opposed to one manufactured or sold commercially). There is also no official Alaska guidance reconciling AS 44.99.500 with current federal ATF frame-and-receiver rules, and federal courts have rejected the Firearms Freedom Act theory in other states.
  • The DPS ACHP page references a 'Concealed Handguns Information' tab containing a statutes-and-regulations booklet, but every URL I found for that PDF (ACHP-Statutes-and-Regs.pdf) returns 404, so I read the statutes and regulations directly from akleg.gov instead.
  • AS 18.65.778 preempts municipal restrictions on PERMIT carry specifically. I did not separately verify the scope of general municipal firearms preemption (AS 29.35.145) as applied to permitless carry, so municipal-level nuance is unconfirmed.

Sources