Nevada's concealed firearm permit is issued by a county sheriff, not by a state agency. The statutory family runs from NRS 202.3653 through NRS...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Nevada's concealed firearm permit is issued by a county sheriff, not by a state agency. The statutory family runs from NRS 202.3653 through NRS 202.369, and NRS 202.3657 is the statute that decides who qualifies, who is disqualified, and when a sheriff must take a permit back.
NRS 202.3653 defines a "concealed firearm" as a loaded or unloaded handgun carried upon a person in such a manner as not to be discernible by ordinary observation. "Handgun" takes the federal meaning in 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(30), a firearm with a short stock designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand, plus any combination of parts from which such a firearm can be assembled. "Department" means the Department of Public Safety.
Those definitions set the outer edge of the permit. It is a handgun permit. NRS 202.350(1)(d) makes it unlawful to carry concealed upon the person an explosive substance other than ammunition or its components, a machete, or a pistol, revolver, other firearm, other dangerous or deadly weapon or pneumatic gun, except as otherwise provided in that section and in NRS 202.3653 to 202.369. Under NRS 202.350(2)(b), concealed carry of a pistol, revolver or other firearm is a category C felony, punished as provided in NRS 193.130. The permit is what lifts a handgun out of that prohibition.
Some people sit outside NRS 202.350 entirely. Under NRS 202.350(4), and except as otherwise provided in subsection 5, the section does not apply to sheriffs, constables, marshals, peace officers, correctional officers employed by the Department of Corrections, special police officers, police officers of this State whether active or honorably retired, or other appointed officers; to a person summoned by a peace officer to assist in making arrests or preserving the peace while actually engaged in assisting that officer; to a full-time paid peace officer of an agency of the United States or another state or political subdivision thereof when carrying out official duties in the State of Nevada; or to members of the Armed Forces of the United States when on duty. NRS 202.350(5) narrows that: the exemptions do not include a former peace officer who is retired for disability unless his or her former employer has approved his or her fitness to carry a concealed weapon.
A different permit in the same chapter is easy to confuse with this one. NRS 202.350(3) lets a sheriff issue a permit for a described concealed weapon, but that subsection states it does not authorize a permit to carry a pistol, revolver or other firearm.
Nevada does not limit permits to its own residents. Under NRS 202.3657(1), a resident of this State applies to the sheriff of the county in which he or she resides, and a person who is not a resident may apply to the sheriff of any county in this State. The application contents in NRS 202.3657(7) track that split: a resident supplies the driver's license or identification card number issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles under paragraph (d), and a nonresident supplies the number issued by another state or jurisdiction under paragraph (e).
Moving to Nevada while holding another state's permit starts a clock. Under NRS 202.3688(2), a person carrying on a permit from a state on the Department's recognition list may not carry a concealed firearm in Nevada if the person becomes a resident and has not been issued a permit by the sheriff of the county in which he or she resides within 60 days after becoming a resident.
NRS 202.3689(1) sets what puts a state on that list. On or before July 1 of each year, the Department determines under paragraph (a) whether each state requires a person to complete any training, class or program before the issuance of a permit to carry a concealed firearm in that state, and under paragraph (b) whether each state has an electronic database which identifies each individual who possesses a valid permit issued by that state and which a law enforcement officer in this State may access at all times through a national law enforcement telecommunications system. The list is the states that meet both.
NRS 202.3657(3)(a) sets two doors. The general threshold is 21 years of age or older. A person at least 18 years of age but less than 21 may qualify if the person is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, a reserve component thereof or the National Guard, or was discharged or released from that service under honorable conditions. NRS 202.3657(7)(f) requires proof of that status: a current military identification card for a current member, or for a person discharged or released under honorable conditions, a DD Form 214, "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty," or other document of honorable separation issued by the United States Department of Defense.
NRS 202.3657(3) is written in mandatory terms. Except as otherwise provided in that section, the sheriff shall issue a permit to any person who is qualified to possess a handgun under state and federal law, who submits an application in accordance with the section, and who meets the age requirement, is not prohibited from possessing a firearm pursuant to NRS 202.360, and demonstrates competence with handguns.
Competence is shown under NRS 202.3657(3)(c) by a certificate or other documentation showing completion of a course in firearm safety approved by a sheriff in this State, or a course offered by a federal, state or local law enforcement agency, community college, university or national organization that certifies instructors in firearm safety.
NRS 202.3657(2) governs the scope of the permit. A person applying may submit one application and obtain one permit to carry all handguns owned by the person, and the statute states that the person must not be required to list and identify each handgun owned on the application. A permit is valid for any handgun which is owned or thereafter obtained by the person to whom it is issued, so a handgun bought later is covered without any further filing.
NRS 202.3657(4) lists the grounds on which the sheriff shall deny an application or revoke a permit. The same list does both jobs, so a condition that would have blocked issuance also ends an existing permit. The sheriff must act if the applicant or permittee:
The two protective orders in that list carry different burdens of proof. Both require findings that the person poses a risk of self-inflicted injury or personal injury to another by possessing, controlling, purchasing or otherwise acquiring any firearm, engaged in high-risk behavior, and that less restrictive options have been exhausted or are not effective. NRS 33.570 requires a preponderance of the evidence and an imminent risk for an emergency order. NRS 33.580 requires clear and convincing evidence for an extended order.
NRS 202.3657(5) adds a permissive ground. The sheriff may deny an application or revoke a permit on receiving a sworn affidavit stating articulable facts based upon personal knowledge, from any natural person 18 years of age or older, that the applicant or permittee has or may have committed an offense or engaged in any other activity specified in subsection 4.
Under NRS 202.3657(6), if the sheriff receives notification from a court or law enforcement agency that a permittee or applicant has been charged with a crime involving the use or threatened use of force or violence, the conviction for which would require revocation or preclude issuance, the sheriff shall suspend the permit or the processing of the application until final disposition of the charges. If the permittee is acquitted, or the charges are dropped, the sheriff shall restore the permit without imposing a fee. NRS 202.3665 requires the sheriff to notify any victim of a suspension, resumption, denial, restoration or revocation taken on that basis, not later than 10 days after the action.
Eligibility rests on being qualified to possess a handgun under both bodies of law, so the possession bars apply directly. NRS 202.360(1) prohibits owning or possessing a firearm for a person convicted of battery constituting domestic violence under NRS 200.485, or a law of any other jurisdiction that prohibits the same or substantially similar conduct, committed against a listed family or dating relation, convicted of a felony in this State or any other state, or in any political subdivision thereof, or of a federal felony unless pardoned without a firearms restriction, convicted of a violation of NRS 200.575 or a law of any other state that prohibits the same or substantially similar conduct with the finding described in subsection 7 of that section, currently subject, except as otherwise provided in NRS 33.031, to an extended order for protection against domestic violence containing a firearms prohibition or an equivalent order in another state, a fugitive from justice, an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance, or otherwise prohibited by federal law. A violation is a category B felony, punished by imprisonment for a minimum term of not less than 1 year and a maximum term of not more than 6 years, and may be further punished by a fine of not more than $5,000.
NRS 202.360(2) reaches a person adjudicated as mentally ill or committed to a mental health facility by a court of this State, another state or the United States, a person who entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill, was found guilty but mentally ill, or was acquitted by reason of insanity, and a person illegally or unlawfully in the United States. A violation is a category D felony punished as provided in NRS 193.130.
Federal law adds its own categories, and NRS 202.360(1)(g) folds them back into state law. Under 18 U.S.C. 922(g), it is unlawful to possess in or affecting commerce, or to ship, transport or receive in interstate or foreign commerce, any firearm or ammunition, for a person convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, a fugitive from justice, an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance as defined in 21 U.S.C. 802, a person adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution, an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States or, except as provided in 18 U.S.C. 922(y)(2), an alien admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa, a person discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions, a person who has renounced United States citizenship, a person subject to a qualifying court order meeting the requirements in paragraph (8), and a person convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
NRS 202.366(1) requires the sheriff to investigate every application, including a renewal under NRS 202.3677, and to forward a complete set of the applicant's fingerprints to the Central Repository for Nevada Records of Criminal History for submission to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its criminal history report. The investigation must also include a report from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Under NRS 202.366(3), within 120 days after a complete application is submitted, the sheriff shall grant or deny it, and a denial requires written notification setting forth the reasons.
NRS 202.366(4) sets the term. Unless suspended or revoked by the sheriff who issued it, a permit expires 5 years after the date on which it is issued. Renewal runs through NRS 202.3677, which requires an application to the issuing sheriff, a fresh investigation under NRS 202.366, and demonstrated continued competence with handguns by completing a course prescribed by the renewing sheriff. NRS 202.3687(1) adds that nothing in NRS 202.3653 to 202.369 prohibits a sheriff from issuing a temporary permit, which may specify the period for which it is valid.
NRS 202.3663 supplies the review route. If an application is denied by a sheriff, the applicant may seek judicial review by filing a petition in the district court for the county in which the applicant filed the application. The statute limits that review to whether the denial was arbitrary, capricious or otherwise characterized by an abuse of discretion, and directs that it follow the procedures in chapter 233B of NRS for reviewing a final decision of an agency. NRS 202.3663 is written in terms of a denied application. If a permit is revoked rather than denied, ask the issuing sheriff's office what review process it applies before any deadline runs.
A separate path sits inside the same permit family. Under NRS 202.3678(1), a retired law enforcement officer who is a resident of this State may apply, on a form prescribed by regulation of the Department, to the sheriff of the county in which he or she resides for any certification required pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 926C(d) to become a qualified retired law enforcement officer, and the sheriff of each county must provide application forms on request. NRS 202.3678(2) requires a law enforcement agency in this State to offer an officer who retired from that agency the opportunity to obtain the firearms qualification necessary for the certification at least twice per year, at the same facility where the agency trains its active officers. Under NRS 202.3678(3), the sheriff shall provide the certification to a retired officer who submits a completed application and pays any required fee if the sheriff determines that the officer meets the standards for training and qualifications.
NRS 202.3667(1) requires each permittee to carry the permit, or a duplicate issued under NRS 202.367, together with proper identification whenever in actual possession of a concealed firearm, and to present both if requested by a peace officer. NRS 202.3667(2) makes a permittee who violates that section subject to a civil penalty of $25 for each violation. NRS 202.367(1) requires written notice to the issuing sheriff within 30 days if the permittee's permanent address changes or the permit is lost, stolen or destroyed, and NRS 202.367(4) subjects a permittee who fails to notify the sheriff to a civil penalty of $25.
Under NRS 202.3662, the application and the information in it, information obtained by a sheriff while investigating an applicant or permittee, the identity of the permittee, and records regarding suspension, restoration or revocation are confidential, subject to that section, NRS 202.3665 and NRS 239.0115.
The sheriff who receives the application is also the office that investigates it and later grants, denies, suspends or revokes. Confirm current forms, appointment procedures and fee amounts with that sheriff's office before applying. The Department of Public Safety publishes the out-of-state recognition list described in NRS 202.3689 and may adopt regulations under NRS 202.369.
This page covers one part of our Nevada concealed carry guide.
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