Kentucky allows concealed carry without a license under KRS 237.109. The section works by pointing outward: it borrows its location rules from the...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Kentucky allows concealed carry without a license under KRS 237.109. The section works by pointing outward: it borrows its location rules from the license statute, KRS 237.110, and takes its criminal consequences from KRS 527.020. Read it alongside KRS 527.020, 527.040, 500.080, 527.070, 237.115, and 244.125.
237.109 Authorization to carry concealed deadly weapons without a license. (1) Persons age twenty-one (21) or older, and otherwise able to lawfully possess a firearm, may carry concealed firearms or other concealed deadly weapons without a license in the same locations as persons with valid licenses issued under KRS 237.110. (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to allow the carrying or possession of any deadly weapon where it is prohibited by federal law.
The statute page carries the line "Effective: June 27, 2019" over a history line reading "Created 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 10, sec. 1." KSP pages describe the same change as taking effect "as of June 28, 2019, pursuant to 2019 Senate Bill 150." Where the two disagree, use the date printed on the statute: June 27, 2019.
Two conditions, both true at the moment you carry.
Age 21 or older. KRS 237.109(1) has no exception to this floor, and the statute has not been amended since it was created in 2019. Turning 21 is the whole qualifying event.
Otherwise able to lawfully possess a firearm. This phrase reaches both state and federal disqualifiers. KRS 527.040 makes possession of a firearm by a convicted felon a Class D felony, or a Class C felony if the firearm is a handgun, unless the person has received a full pardon from the Governor or the President or federal relief under the Gun Control Act. On the federal side, KRS 237.110(3) frames the license background check around eligibility under 18 U.S.C. 922(g) and (n), and a person caught by one of those categories is not "otherwise able to lawfully possess a firearm" under KRS 237.109 either.
KSP flags an asymmetry: a person over 21 who cannot lawfully possess a firearm may still be allowed to possess some other deadly weapon, but may not carry any deadly weapon concealed. The firearm test gates everything, not just guns.
Residency and citizenship are not conditions. KRS 237.109(1) says "persons," with no residency qualifier. KSP states the same: any person eligible to possess a firearm under the laws of the United States and of Kentucky may carry concealed here without regard to citizenship or state of residence.
Nothing in KRS 237.109 creates an application, background check, training requirement, or record. You decide whether you qualify, and if you decide wrong, a prosecutor answers the question again under KRS 527.020.
Concealed firearms and other concealed deadly weapons. "Deadly weapon" is defined at KRS 500.080(4), and it reaches well beyond firearms: a weapon of mass destruction; any weapon from which a shot readily capable of producing death or serious physical injury may be discharged; any knife other than an ordinary pocket knife or hunting knife; a billy, nightstick, club, blackjack, or slapjack; nunchaku karate sticks; a shuriken; and artificial knuckles of metal, plastic, or similar hard material.
Permission that runs against the concealed carry offense. KRS 527.020(1) makes it an offense to carry a firearm or other deadly weapon concealed in violation of that section. KRS 527.020(4) then provides that persons carrying in accordance with KRS 237.109, or licensed under KRS 237.110, may carry concealed at all times within the Commonwealth, if carried in conformity with those sections. Getting the qualification wrong takes that shelter away: carrying a concealed weapon is a Class A misdemeanor under KRS 527.020(10), and a Class D felony if the defendant has previously been convicted of a felony in which a deadly weapon was possessed, used, or displayed.
The concealed-versus-open parity rule. KRS 527.020(4) continues: unless otherwise specifically provided by the Kentucky Revised Statutes or applicable federal law, no criminal penalty shall attach to carrying a concealed firearm or other deadly weapon at any location at which an unconcealed firearm or other deadly weapon may be constitutionally carried. KRS 237.115(3) states the identical rule a second time. Read it as load-bearing: where you may lawfully carry openly, concealing it is not by itself the crime, absent a specific statutory or federal bar.
The vehicle rules, and the anti-prohibition rules that go with them. KRS 527.020(8) provides that a loaded or unloaded firearm or other deadly weapon is not deemed concealed on or about the person when it is in an enclosed container, compartment, or storage space installed as original equipment in a motor vehicle by its manufacturer, including a glove compartment, center console, or seat pocket, locked or not. It then bars any person or organization, public or private, from prohibiting a person from keeping a firearm, ammunition, or other deadly weapon in a vehicle in accordance with it, and KRS 527.020(4) states a parallel bar for possession in a vehicle in compliance with KRS 237.109, 237.110, and 237.115. Both give the same remedy: an attempt to violate them may be the subject of an action for appropriate relief or for damages in a Circuit Court or District Court. Subsection (8) does not apply to a person prohibited from possessing a firearm under KRS 527.040.
Carry on your own ground. KRS 527.020(9) puts three settings outside the section entirely: real property owned by you or your spouse, parent, grandparent, or child, if you own it or have the owner's permission; the same property held under a lease, with the lessee's permission; and property owned or leased by a business of which you are the sole proprietor.
Places. KRS 237.109(1) grants location parity with licensees, not location freedom: where a licensee is barred, so are you. The KRS 237.110(16) list applies: police stations and sheriffs' offices; detention facilities, prisons, and jails; courthouses, courtrooms solely occupied by the Court of Justice, and court proceedings; meetings of county, municipal, or special-district governing bodies and of the General Assembly or its committees; the portion of an establishment licensed to dispense beer or alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption that is primarily devoted to that purpose; elementary and secondary school facilities without the consent of school authorities as provided in KRS 527.070, child-caring facilities, day-care centers, and certified family child-care homes; controlled-access airport areas; and any place where carrying firearms is prohibited by federal law.
KRS 237.109(2) repeats that last point on its own. Read the list with its opening words attached: KRS 237.110(16) begins "Except as provided in KRS 527.020," and KRS 237.115(1) and 237.115(2) open the same way. The list is not self-contained, and the parity rule sits upstream of it.
Three further layers sit outside the list. Under KRS 237.115(1), and subject to that same KRS 527.020 exception, nothing in KRS 237.109 or 237.110 limits a college, university, or other postsecondary facility in controlling deadly weapons on property it owns or controls, or limits a state, city, county, urban-county, or charter county government in prohibiting concealed carry in the portion of a building it owns, leases, or occupies. KRS 237.115(2) requires restricted portions to be marked by signs at the entrance, exempts public housing occupied by private persons, highway rest areas, firing ranges, and government-owned private dwellings, and forbids any criminal penalty. The consequences are denial of entry, an order to leave, or discipline for government employees.
KRS 527.070 makes unlawful possession of a weapon on school property, openly or concealed, a Class D felony, subject to the exceptions in KRS 527.070(3), which include an adult who is not a pupil of any secondary school keeping a firearm inside a vehicle and not removing or brandishing it. The closing sentence of KRS 527.070(1) matters as much as the offense: that section does not apply to institutions of postsecondary or higher education. College campuses run on institutional policy under KRS 237.115(1), which carries no criminal penalty, not on the school-property felony.
KRS 244.125(1) bars possession of a loaded firearm, as "loaded" is defined in KRS 237.060, while actually within the room where alcoholic beverages are sold by the drink on premises licensed for on-premises consumption of distilled spirits and wine. Subsection (2) excepts the premises owner, manager, or employee, law enforcement officers, and special local peace officers under KRS 61.360. Subsection (3) excepts a bona fide restaurant open to the public with dining facilities for not less than fifty (50) persons that receives less than fifty percent (50%) of its annual food and beverage receipts from alcohol. The section states no penalty class on its face. Subsection (5) provides that any firearm possessed in violation is subject to forfeiture under KRS 237.090.
Private property. KRS 237.110(17) lets the owner, business or commercial lessee, or manager of a private business enterprise, day-care center, certified or licensed family child-care home, or KRS Chapter 216B health-care facility (other than housing rentals) prohibit concealed carry on the premises, with signs required if the premises are open to the public. Violating it is not a criminal act under the subsection; it can mean denial of entry, removal, or employee discipline. Weapons or ammunition kept in a vehicle on the premises and not brandished are not a criminal offense, which lines up with the vehicle rules above.
Anyone under 21. KRS 237.109 does not reach 18, 19, or 20 year olds. What changed in 2026 is that they now have a license path instead. KRS 237.118, created by 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 173 and effective July 15, 2026, directs KSP to issue provisional licenses to persons who are 18 but younger than 21 and who, notwithstanding the age criterion in KRS 237.110(4)(c), otherwise meet KRS 237.110(3) and (4). A provisional license is valid statewide until the holder turns 21. KRS 237.118(3)(b) makes every statutory reference to a KRS 237.110 license also a reference to a provisional license, so the location rules above bind provisional licensees too. The statute is in force, but the application channel is not open. KSP states the online portal "is expected to be updated this fall and will then begin accepting concealed carry permit applications from eligible individuals ages 18 to 20." Treat KRS 237.118 as authorization on the books, not as a license anyone holds today.
Below 18, KRS 527.100 makes possession of a handgun by a minor a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class D felony for each subsequent offense, subject to the listed exceptions for safety courses, ranges, organized competition, licensed hunting, travel to and from those activities with an unloaded handgun, and adult-controlled property with parental permission. Federal law bars a licensed dealer from selling to anyone the dealer knows or has reasonable cause to believe is under 21, where the firearm or ammunition is other than a shotgun or rifle or ammunition for a shotgun or rifle (18 U.S.C. 922(b)(1)). That bar reaches handgun ammunition, not just handguns.
Travel outside Kentucky. KRS 237.109 stops at the state line. KSP puts it plainly: carry by Kentucky residents visiting other states is governed by those states' laws, and only a state requiring no license of any person would let a Kentucky resident carry without a CCDW license. Check the Reciprocity section before you drive.
Permitless carry removed the requirement, not the reasons. A KRS 237.110 license still earns its keep four ways.
The license also creates an obligation permitless carry does not. Under KRS 237.110(15), a licensee must carry the license whenever carrying a concealed firearm or other deadly weapon and display it on a law enforcement officer's request, with a twenty-five dollar noncriminal penalty for failing to do so. Kentucky imposes no comparable requirement on a permitless carrier, because there is no document.
This page covers one part of our Kentucky concealed carry guide.
Read the complete Kentucky guideBrowse local instructors offering state-approved training in your area. Book online, complete your training, and get one step closer to your concealed carry permit.