Idaho Concealed Carry Permit

Idaho has no statute prohibiting an individual from building a firearm for personal use, no state serialization mandate for a self-made firearm, no state registration of firearms, and no state regulation of unfinished frames/receivers or firearm-manufacturing kits. A review of Title 18, Chapter 33 (Firearms, Explosives and Other Deadly Weapons, §§ 18-3301 through 18-3327) turned up no such provision. Affirmative support: the Idaho Constitution, art. I, § 11 provides "The people have the right to keep and bear arms, which right shall not be abridged" and expressly that "No law shall impose licensure, registration or special taxation on the ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition" — which forecloses a state firearm registry. Idaho Code § 18-3302J preempts local regulation: "It is the legislature's intent to wholly occupy the field of firearms regulation within this state," and no county, city, or political subdivision may regulate "the sale, acquisition, transfer, ownership, possession, transportation, carrying or storage of firearms or any element relating to firearms and components thereof, including ammunition." So a city or county cannot impose its own serialization or build-registration rule. Idaho Code § 18-3315B ("Prohibition of Regulation of Certain Firearms," added 2014 ch. 148, am. 2021 ch. 329) penalizes Idaho officials who enforce certain federal firearm measures and its findings address firearms "manufactured in Idaho from basic materials." What Idaho DOES criminalize is defacing an existing number: Idaho Code § 18-2410 makes it a felony where a person, "with intent to deceive or defraud others, shall deface, alter, remove, cover, destroy or obliterate the manufacturer's serial or identification number on any item of property" — that punishes removing a serial that already exists; it does not require an unserialized self-built firearm to be marked. IMPORTANT CAVEAT: federal law is unaffected by any of the above. Under the Gun Control Act and ATF's 2022 Final Rule 2021R-05F, a firearm built for personal use need not be marked, but building with intent to sell requires an FFL and serialization, National Firearms Act items require ATF approval and marking, and a prohibited person may not manufacture or possess a firearm at all. Idaho's § 18-3315B does not shield anyone from federal prosecution. Anyone relying on this should confirm current federal requirements; a violation can be a federal felony even where Idaho law is silent.

Idaho Const. art. I, § 11; Idaho Code §§ 18-3302J, 18-3315B, 18-2410

Federal law, gunsmithing schools, and tools →

What we could not confirm

• Literal age wording: § 18-3302(4)(f)(i) says permitless carry applies to a person who "[i]s over eighteen (18) years of age," while the Idaho Attorney General's official FAQ paraphrases it as "at least 18 years old." A hyper-literal reading of "over eighteen" could exclude someone on the day they turn 18; the AG's reading (and § 18-3302(3)(d)'s parallel "eighteen (18) years of age or older") indicates 18 is sufficient. I could not find an Idaho appellate decision resolving the wording. Anyone exactly 18 should treat this as unsettled.
• Residency for the STANDARD license: § 18-3302 contains no residency requirement in its text (unlike § 18-3302K(4)(b), which requires 6 months' Idaho residency OR a current permit from the applicant's state of residence). The Idaho AG says a non-resident should "contact the county sheriff where you reside or where you intend to apply if you are not an Idaho resident," which indicates non-residents may apply, but no official source states a uniform statewide non-resident procedure. Because applications must be made in person to a sheriff, non-resident practice varies by county. Confirm with the specific sheriff.
• The ISP reciprocity page names only the 49 other U.S. states. It does not address the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or American Samoa, and § 18-3302(5)(g) refers to a permit "from another state." Whether Idaho recognizes a D.C. concealed pistol license is therefore not confirmed by a primary source. (Practically moot for U.S. citizens 18+, who may carry permitless.)
• Idaho publishes no statewide roster of certified concealed-weapons or enhanced-CWL instructors. ISP publishes the Enhanced CWL Training Certificate form but not a list of qualified instructors; instructorRegistryUrl is therefore null. Verify an instructor's NRA / nationally-recognized-organization / Idaho POST credential directly with the county sheriff.
• § 18-3302 currently exists in two published versions. I diffed them: the ONLY difference in the January 1, 2027 version (2026 Idaho Sess. Laws ch. 79, sec. 16) is the cross-reference in the mental-capacity disqualifier § 18-3302(11)(f)(iv), which changes "incapacitated person as defined in section 15-5-101" to "section 15-1-201" (conforming to the Uniform Guardianship Act recodification). No carry rule, age, fee, training, or reciprocity provision changes on Jan. 1, 2027.
• Actual out-of-pocket cost per county is not published statewide. The $20/$15 statutory fees exclude fingerprint-processing and card-material pass-through costs, so totals differ by county; the AG acknowledges "[i]n some counties, this results in higher fees." Check the specific sheriff's fee schedule.
• Prohibited-place rules were summarized from the AG FAQ and § 18-3302C/D section titles rather than a line-by-line read of those sections; that field was outside the requested scope. Anyone relying on where-you-may-carry should read §§ 18-3302C, 18-3302D, and 18-3309 directly, plus § 18-3302(25) on private property and public property used for restricted-access events (which supersedes Herndon v. City of Sandpoint, 531 P.3d 1125 (Idaho 2023)).