New Mexico is a licensed state for concealed carry. Carrying a concealed loaded firearm, or any other type of deadly weapon, is the criminal offense of...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
New Mexico is a licensed state for concealed carry. Carrying a concealed loaded firearm, or any other type of deadly weapon, is the criminal offense of unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon under NMSA 1978, Section 30-7-2(A), a petty misdemeanor under Section 30-7-2(C). The offense has five listed exceptions. The one that carries the license is Section 30-7-2(A)(5): a person in possession of a valid concealed handgun license issued by the Department of Public Safety under the Concealed Handgun Carry Act, Sections 29-19-1 through 29-19-15. The New Mexico Supreme Court reads the two statutes the same way: the Act "does no more than add another exception to the general prohibition against carrying concealed weapons: carrying with a concealed handgun license." State ex rel. New Mexico Voices for Children, Inc. v. Denko, 2004-NMSC-011, noted in the annotations to Section 30-7-2.
Section 30-7-1 defines carrying a deadly weapon as "being armed with a deadly weapon by having it on the person, or in close proximity thereto, so that the weapon is readily accessible for use." Section 29-19-2(D) defines a concealed handgun as "a loaded handgun that is not visible to the ordinary observations of a reasonable person."
Section 30-7-2(B) draws the other boundary: "Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the carrying of any unloaded firearm." An unloaded firearm falls outside the Section 30-7-2 offense whether it is visible or not. That carve-out is specific to Section 30-7-2 and does not travel to the location statutes below. Section 30-7-3 reaches a loaded or unloaded firearm on licensed liquor premises, and Section 30-7-2.1 a deadly weapon on school premises regardless of load.
Four of the five Section 30-7-2(A) exceptions do not involve a license:
Outside those situations, carrying a concealed loaded firearm or other deadly weapon requires the license. Carrying openly, and carrying an unloaded firearm, stay outside Section 30-7-2 either way.
Section 29-19-4(A) directs the Department to issue to an applicant who is a United States citizen, twenty-one or older, a New Mexico resident or a service member permanently stationed here or a dependent of one, not a fugitive from justice, free of any felony conviction or pending felony indictment anywhere, not barred from purchasing or possessing a firearm by federal law or the law of any other jurisdiction, never adjudicated mentally incompetent or committed to a mental institution, not addicted to alcohol or controlled substances, and has completed a department-approved firearms training course for the category and largest caliber sought. Section 29-19-4(B) then requires denial for several misdemeanor histories, three of them inside a five or ten year look-back and one, a misdemeanor conviction involving assault, battery or battery against a household member, with no time limit at all. See the permit basics, training, and fees sections.
Section 29-19-6(C)(4) requires the license to state the category and the largest caliber the licensee may carry, with a statement that the licensee may carry smaller calibers but "shall carry only one concealed handgun at any given time." Category means whether a handgun is semiautomatic or not semiautomatic. Section 29-19-2(C).
10.8.2.16(A) NMAC states the same limits as conduct rules: no person shall carry a concealed handgun of a different category or higher caliber than the license indicates, and a licensee shall carry only one concealed handgun at any given time. The Department's own guidance adds that carrying more than one firearm is otherwise legal, that only one may be concealed on the person, and that the limit does not reach firearms carried in a vehicle.
Adding a category or a higher caliber takes an endorsement application under 10.8.2.18 NMAC, including a certificate of range competency for each addition. A licensee shall not carry the higher caliber concealed handgun until the updated license arrives.
A license runs four years from issuance unless suspended or revoked. Section 29-19-3. Licenses issued to retired law enforcement officers and to military service persons run five years, and a current peace officer residing in New Mexico may obtain a five-year license. Sections 29-19-14(F) and 29-19-15(C); 10.8.2.30(A) NMAC.
Section 29-19-9: "A licensee shall have his concealed handgun license in his possession at all times while carrying a concealed handgun." Under 10.8.2.16(D) NMAC, a licensee carrying a concealed handgun in public shall, upon demand by a peace officer, display the valid license. Neither provision requires you to volunteer that you are armed before an officer asks.
A peace officer acting in the lawful discharge of official duties may disarm a licensee whenever the officer reasonably believes it is necessary for anyone's protection, and must return the handgun before dismissing the licensee if the officer has determined the licensee is not a threat and the licensee has not violated the Act or the rule or committed any other violation that could result in arrest. 10.8.2.20(A) NMAC. An officer may also confiscate the license for a violation of the Act or the rule. 10.8.2.20(B) NMAC.
10.8.2.16 NMAC adds further conduct rules. A licensee shall not deface, alter, mutilate, reproduce, lend, transfer or sell a license. 10.8.2.16(E) NMAC. Only a peace officer may carry a badge, patch, card or other indication of authority to carry concealed in New Mexico other than the license itself or a license New Mexico has accepted by reciprocity. 10.8.2.16(K) NMAC. Under 10.8.2.16(L) NMAC a licensee has ten days to notify the Department in writing and return the license after an adjudication of mental incompetence, a commitment for mental illness or addiction treatment, an order of protection, an indictment or criminal information for a felony offense or a criminal complaint for a disqualifying misdemeanor offense described in Section 29-19-4(B), ceasing to be a full time salaried peace officer, or a military discharge other than honorable.
Section 29-19-6(I)(3) requires the Department to suspend or revoke a license where the licensee violated the Act after receiving it; 10.8.2.21(A)(1) NMAC lets it deny, suspend or revoke for a violation of the Act or the rule.
Recognition is discretionary, not automatic. Section 29-19-12(E) directs the Department to adopt rules providing "discretionary state authority for the transfer, recognition or reciprocity" of another state's license, and only where that state's program includes provisions at least as stringent as or substantially similar to the Concealed Handgun Carry Act, prints an expiration date, can verify license status for law enforcement within three business days, has disqualification, suspension and revocation requirements, and requires a national criminal history record check, no federal or state possession bar, and a firearms safety program.
The Department's rule defines reciprocity as permission for an out-of-state license issued to a nonresident to be used in New Mexico by a licensee visiting or passing through, and 10.8.2.29(H) NMAC states that no reciprocity shall be afforded to a license issued by another state to a New Mexico resident. The Department publishes the recognized-state list. See the reciprocity section of this guide.
Three separate rules apply.
Carrying a firearm while under the influence of an intoxicant or narcotic is negligent use of a deadly weapon under Section 30-7-4(A)(2), a petty misdemeanor. Independently, 10.8.2.16(B) NMAC forbids consuming alcohol at all while carrying a concealed handgun, and 10.8.2.16(C) NMAC forbids carrying one while impaired by alcohol, controlled substances including cannabis, or over-the-counter or prescribed medications.
Premises are the third rule. Carrying a loaded or unloaded firearm on any premises licensed by the regulation and licensing department for dispensing alcoholic beverages is a fourth degree felony under Section 30-7-3(B). A licensee is excepted in two places under Section 30-7-3(A)(4): a licensed establishment that does not sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, and a restaurant licensed to sell only beer and wine that derives no less than sixty percent of its annual gross receipts from food consumed on the premises. That restaurant exception fails if a sign prohibiting firearms is posted in a conspicuous location at each public entrance, or if the owner or manager verbally tells you not to carry. Three further exceptions in Section 30-7-3(A) do not turn on a concealed handgun license: the area of the premises usually and primarily rented on a daily or short-term basis for sleeping or residential occupancy, including hotel or motel rooms (A)(5), the area primarily used for vehicular traffic or parking (A)(6), and a temporary display of a firearm made completely inoperative and kept under the control of the premises licensee or an agent (A)(7). A bar, or any restaurant with a full liquor license, is not covered by either licensee exception in Subsection A(4). The vehicle carry section covers the parking-area rule.
Section 29-19-8(A) states that the Act does not allow a licensee to carry into or on premises where doing so would violate state or federal law. The recurring limits:
New Mexico state parks run the other way. Asked whether a licensee may carry concealed in a state park, the Department answers yes and points to 19.5.2.21 NMAC.
Section 29-19-14(A) waives the application fee, renewal fee, and firearms training course for a current or retired certified law enforcement officer and a qualifying New Mexico mounted patrol member. Retiree terms are narrower: the fee waiver under Section 29-19-14(C) requires at least fifteen years as a certified officer before retirement plus a letter showing retirement in good standing, and Section 29-19-14(E) requires a firearms training course from an officer retired more than ten years.
Section 29-19-15(A) charges no application or renewal fee to a military service person who documents that status, and requires no firearms training or refresher course from one discharged from military service within twenty years of the application or renewal. Subsection E defines a military service person as someone accepted into the United States armed forces who is on active duty, on reserve or guard duty, or a veteran or retiree who received an honorable discharge.
Federal law runs alongside. A qualified law enforcement officer carrying the identification required by subsection (d) may carry concealed under 18 U.S.C. 926B, and a qualified retired officer under 18 U.S.C. 926C. Both leave in place state laws letting private persons or entities restrict concealed carry on their property and laws restricting firearms on state or local government property.
| Conduct | Statute | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Concealed loaded firearm or other deadly weapon, no exception | 30-7-2 | Petty misdemeanor |
| Carrying while under the influence of an intoxicant or narcotic | 30-7-4(A)(2) | Petty misdemeanor |
| Firearm on licensed liquor premises | 30-7-3 | Fourth degree felony |
| Deadly weapon on K-12 school premises | 30-7-2.1 | Fourth degree felony |
| Firearm on university premises | 30-7-2.4 | Petty misdemeanor |
| Boarding a bus armed without company approval | 30-7-13 | Misdemeanor |
| Handgun possession by a person under nineteen, no exception | 30-7-2.2 | Misdemeanor |
The federal Gun-Free School Zones Act bars knowingly possessing a firearm in a school zone, defined at 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(26) as in or on the grounds of a public, parochial or private school, or within 1,000 feet of them. The exception at 18 U.S.C. 922(q)(2)(B)(ii) covers a person licensed by the state where the zone sits, where state law requires law enforcement to verify the person's qualification before issuance. New Mexico runs a records check and forwards fingerprints to the FBI for a national background check before issuance. Section 29-19-5(D). Further exceptions cover private property that is not part of school grounds, an unloaded firearm in a locked container or in a locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle, a program approved by a school in the zone, a contract between a school in the zone and the individual or the individual's employer, a law enforcement officer acting in an official capacity, and an unloaded firearm carried across school premises with school authorization to reach lands open to hunting. A recognized out-of-state permit does not carry that federal exception into New Mexico: it is keyed to a license issued by the state where the zone sits.
Department rules and the recognized-state list change without amending the statutes. Confirm both with the Department before relying on either.
This page covers one part of our New Mexico concealed carry guide.
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