South Dakota Concealed Carry Laws Explained

Concealed Carry in South Dakota

The headline

South Dakota does not require a permit to carry a concealed pistol. SDCL 23-7-7 ends with the operative sentence: "The issuance of a permit to carry a concealed pistol under this chapter does not impose a general prohibition on the carrying of a pistol without a permit." The 2019 legislature cleared four sections out of the weapons chapter in one act: SL 2019, ch 113 repealed SDCL 22-14-9 and 22-14-9.1 in secs. 1 and 2, and SDCL 22-14-10 and 22-14-11 in secs. 3 and 4. Any guide still citing those four is citing dead law. The Secretary of State's pistol permit FAQ states the result plainly. South Dakota allows permitless open carry and permitless concealed carry, for residents and nonresidents.

Permits still exist. Chapter 23-7 issues three optional tiers, plus an age-limited form of the enhanced permit for applicants aged eighteen to twenty, and they can be held at the same time. What a permit buys is not the right to carry. It is a short list of places and privileges, set out below, plus recognition when you travel.

What "concealed" means

SDCL 22-1-2(6) defines "concealed" for all of Title 22 as "any firearm that is totally hidden from view. If any part of the firearm is capable of being seen, it is not concealed." SDCL 23-7-1(2) points the permit chapter back at that definition. "Pistol" is SDCL 22-1-2(32): any firearm with a barrel under sixteen inches, designed to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. Chapter 23-7 does not reach antique firearms or firearms permanently altered so they cannot be discharged (SDCL 23-7-1.1). SDCL 22-14-17 carries only the nondischargeable half into chapter 22-14: that chapter does not apply to any firearm permanently altered so it is incapable of being discharged. Antique firearms get no such pass there. SDCL 22-14-15.3 counts an antique firearm, and any muzzle loading rifle, shotgun, or pistol, as a firearm for SDCL 22-14-15 and SDCL 22-14-15.1.

What is still a crime while you carry

Every grade below maps to a maximum through SDCL 22-6-1 (felonies) and SDCL 22-6-2 (misdemeanors).

• Concealing with felonious intent. SDCL 22-14-8 makes it a Class 5 felony to conceal "on or about his or her person a controlled or dangerous weapon with intent to commit a felony," which is up to five years in a state correctional facility plus a fine up to ten thousand dollars (SDCL 22-6-1(8)). This is the concealment offense still on the books, and it turns on intent, not on whether you hold a permit.
• Loaded firearm while intoxicated. SDCL 22-14-7(3) makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to have "in personal possession a loaded firearm while intoxicated," up to one year in county jail or a two thousand dollar fine, or both (SDCL 22-6-2(1)). SDCL 22-1-2(22A) defines "loaded firearm" as a functional firearm with a cartridge, shell, or projectile in the chamber, including any chamber in a revolver's cylinder.
• Prohibited persons. SDCL 22-14-15 bars possession by anyone convicted of a crime of violence or a listed chapter 22-42 drug felony, a Class 6 felony, with the bar lifting fifteen years after last discharge from prison, jail, probation, or parole. SDCL 22-14-15.1 does the same after any chapter 22-42 felony, on a five-year window that runs only for someone not also caught by SDCL 22-14-15. SDCL 22-14-15.2 bars possession for one year after a misdemeanor conviction involving an act of domestic violence, a Class 1 misdemeanor, with civil rights restored at the end of the year.
• Carrying during a felony. SDCL 22-14-12 makes committing or attempting any felony while armed with a firearm a Class 2 felony on a first conviction, carrying a five-year minimum that cannot be probated or suspended, and a Class 1 felony with a ten-year minimum on a second. It is charged as a separate count (SDCL 22-14-14).
• Controlled weapons. SDCL 22-14-6 makes knowing possession of a controlled weapon a Class 6 felony, subject to exceptions including a federal license for the weapon or registration with the proper federal authority. As amended in 2026, SDCL 22-1-2(8) provides that "controlled weapon" includes a machine gun and short shotgun "but does not include a firearm silencer," so a suppressor is outside that state offense. Federal registration is unaffected: a silencer is a firearm under the National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. 5845(a)(7), and 26 U.S.C. 5861(d) makes it unlawful to receive or possess one that is not registered to you in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
• Under eighteen. SDCL 23-7-71 bars anyone under eighteen from carrying a concealed pistol except in the presence of a parent or legal guardian. It carries no penalty of its own. SDCL 22-6-2 makes a statutory prohibition with no stated penalty a Class 2 misdemeanor outside a list of excepted titles that does not include Title 23, which is thirty days in county jail or a five hundred dollar fine, or both. Read that grade as the statutory default rather than a penalty SDCL 23-7-71 states. SDCL 23-7-44 separately grades knowing pistol possession by a minor as a Class 1 misdemeanor. SDCL 23-7-45 exempts a minor who had the prior written consent of a parent or guardian and was on premises owned or leased by the minor or the minor's parent, guardian, or immediate family member, was in the presence of a licensed or accredited gun safety instructor, or was using the pistol for farming, ranching, hunting, trapping, target shooting, or gun safety instruction.

Courthouses and the capitol are barred, with narrow exceptions

SDCL 22-14-23 makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to knowingly possess, or cause to be present, any firearm or other dangerous weapon in a county courthouse or the state capitol, or to attempt to do so. SDCL 22-14-22 defines both terms to include any building appended to or used as a supplementary structure to them, so the annex counts.

SDCL 22-14-27 forecloses the obvious defense: a defendant "may not claim as a defense that the defendant was the holder of a permit to carry a concealed pistol issued under chapter 23-7." Signs go up at every public entrance under SDCL 22-14-26, and SDCL 22-14-25 preserves a court's own power to punish contempt and to make rules about weapons in its building and on its grounds, except as to the authorizations SDCL 22-14-24 sets out.

The exceptions in SDCL 22-14-24 are narrow:

1. Officials and officers of the court performing official duties, judges and magistrates, and authorized federal or state officials and service members.
2. Qualified active and retired law enforcement officers carrying a concealed pistol in the state capitol under the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, 18 U.S.C. 926B and 926C.
3. An enhanced permit holder carrying a concealed pistol anywhere in the capitol other than the Supreme Court chamber or an access-controlled private office under security supervision, on oral or written notice to the superintendent of the Division of Highway Patrol at least twenty-four hours before initially entering the capitol with a concealed pistol. The notice names a date or range of dates not running past December 31 of that year, and may be renewed without limit.
4. County or state employees assigned to work in the courthouse, if they are not inmates and stay out of areas supervised by the Unified Judicial System.
5. Lawful carry in a county courthouse incident to a hunter safety or gun safety course, or for any other lawful purpose.

A county commission can switch the courthouse rule off by a majority of the members-elect (SDCL 22-14-28), and that waiver supersedes the county-employee exception. Call the county before you assume either way.

Public K-12 schools bar carry, with a vehicle exception for permit holders

SDCL 13-32-7 makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to intentionally carry, possess, store, keep, leave, or place any dangerous weapon, firearm, or air gun on or in public elementary or secondary school premises, vehicles, or buildings, or on premises used or leased for public school functions, whether or not anyone is endangered.

Two exceptions matter to a carrier. Subdivision (3) covers a person twenty-one or older who holds an enhanced permit issued in accordance with chapter 23-7 and has written permission from the principal or whoever has general control of the building or grounds. Subdivision (4) covers "an individual who holds any permit to carry a concealed pistol, issued in accordance with chapter 23-7," while inside a motor vehicle, or outside one securing a pistol in or retrieving a pistol from the vehicle. Any tier works for subdivision (4), which is recent: SDCL 13-32-7 was last amended by SL 2025, ch 83, sec. 1. A permitless carrier gets neither exception.

The statute also exempts law enforcement officers, individuals who completed a school sentinel course under chapter 13-64, starting guns at athletic events, firing ranges, gun shows, supervised firearms training, color guard ceremonies with an unloaded weapon, nonpublic schools, and churches or other houses of worship.

Both permit exceptions run on a permit "issued in accordance with chapter 23-7," and chapter 23-7 issues permits only through the sheriff of the applicant's South Dakota county of residence (SDCL 23-7-7, SDCL 23-7-53, SDCL 23-7-60). When the legislature wanted a permit term beyond the enhanced and the restricted enhanced it said so, naming a "reciprocal permit" in SDCL 13-53-56 and SDCL 13-39A-43. SDCL 13-32-7 names no such thing. Treat an out-of-state permit as not carrying either school exception, and see RECIPROCITY.

Federal law runs alongside this one. 18 U.S.C. 922(q)(2)(A) reaches possession in a school zone, defined at 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(26) as the grounds plus a 1,000-foot radius. Its license exception at 922(q)(2)(B)(ii) applies only where the carrier is licensed by the State in which the school zone is located, or by a political subdivision of that State, and that State's or subdivision's law requires its law enforcement authorities to verify the individual is qualified to receive the license. A permitless carrier has nothing to invoke there and has to fall back on the other exceptions in 922(q)(2)(B), which include private property that is not part of school grounds at (B)(i) and a firearm that is unloaded and in a locked container or locked firearms rack on a motor vehicle at (B)(iii).

Campus carry runs through the governing boards, not through a general permission

A single 2025 act, SL 2025, ch 86, restricts what the higher education boards may do. SDCL 13-53-56 bars the Board of Regents and its institutions from restricting the lawful carrying, possession, storage, or transportation of a concealed pistol and compatible ammunition "by any individual holding an enhanced permit, a restricted enhanced permit, or a reciprocal permit in accordance with chapter 23-7." SDCL 13-39A-43 imposes the identical rule on the Board of Technical Education. Both also cover stun guns, mace, pepper spray, and other chemical irritants for any individual, with no permit condition.

Read the grammar before you teach it. These sections tell the boards what they cannot prohibit; by their terms they do not authorize carry by anyone outside the named group, so a regular permit holder, a gold card holder, and a permitless carrier are not covered by the pistol clause.

SDCL 13-53-57 and SDCL 13-39A-44 let the boards restrict carry anyway in four settings: a designated area holding more than fifty-five gallons of flammable liquid, significant NFPA Category 3 or higher hazardous materials, K-size cylinders of certain gases, L-size acetylene cylinders, or MRI or NMR equipment; a cleanroom used for manufacturing or scientific research; an area under a facility or federal security clearance; and a building during a special event where metal detectors are used and armed security staff are posted at every public entrance. When you are not carrying the item, both sections require storage in a locked case or safe.

The bar ban is gone

SDCL 23-7-70 prohibited carrying a concealed pistol in any licensed on-sale establishment deriving over half its income from malt or alcoholic beverage sales. SL 2025, ch 36, sec. 5 (2025 House Bill 1218) repealed it outright, signed March 24, 2025, and the other four sections of that act put nothing in its place.

What governs now is your condition, not the building's liquor license. SDCL 22-14-7(3) reaches personal possession of a loaded firearm while intoxicated wherever you are standing. See RESTRICTIONS for what a property owner can still do.

Local governments have little room to restrict you

SDCL 9-19-20 voids any municipal ordinance restricting the possession, storage, transportation, purchase, sale, transfer, ownership, manufacture, or repair of firearms, ammunition, or their components, and directs the attorney general to issue a cease and desist order and then sue. SDCL 7-18A-36 and SDCL 8-5-13 do the same for counties and townships, each carving out generally applicable zoning, building, and fire codes not used to circumvent the ban. SDCL 1-26-6.10 blocks any state agency rule restricting a right or privilege to carry or possess a concealed pistol under chapter 23-7. See PREEMPTION for the full treatment.

The same 2025 act that repealed the bar ban added SDCL 7-18-35, SDCL 8-4-13, and SDCL 9-14-44. Counties, townships, and municipalities may not use a policy, guidance letter, or similar written or oral directive to keep their own employees, officers, or volunteers from lawfully possessing a concealed firearm and compatible ammunition in government buildings, facilities, vehicles, or on government real property. Excluded are inmates, and anyone other than a law enforcement officer either inside the secure area of a detention facility, mental health crisis center, or substance use disorder residential treatment facility, or using a government vehicle to transport a person apprehended under chapter 27A-10. SDCL 9-14-45 lets a municipality restrict dangerous weapons in a building or facility hosting an event, but only where metal detectors are used to screen for dangerous weapons and armed security personnel are posted at each public entrance.

What the permit tiers actually change

Chapter 23-7 issues three permit types, plus an age-limited form of the enhanced permit for applicants aged eighteen to twenty. The regular, enhanced, and gold card permits each run five years from issuance (SDCL 23-7-8.2, SDCL 23-7-55, SDCL 23-7-63), and every application goes through the sheriff of your county of residence. SDCL 23-7-57 makes the rights and responsibilities of the regular permit apply to the enhanced and gold card permits unless a section says otherwise.

• Regular permit (SDCL 23-7-7, SDCL 23-7-7.1, SDCL 23-7-8.2). The baseline card. It satisfies the school motor vehicle exception in SDCL 13-32-7(4).
• Enhanced permit (SDCL 23-7-53, SDCL 23-7-55). Requires fingerprints for a state, national, and international background check, plus proof of either a qualifying handgun course under SDCL 23-7-58 within the preceding twelve months or, for a current or former law enforcement officer, qualification or requalification within the preceding twelve months on a certified shooting course run by an instructor approved by the Law Enforcement Officers Standards Commission (SDCL 23-7-53(4)). The age floor is twenty-one (SDCL 23-7-54.2). It is valid only when carried with a government-issued photo ID. It is the tier named for the state capitol in SDCL 22-14-24(5) and for the school written-permission exception in SDCL 13-32-7(3), and it is named in the campus statutes.
• Restricted enhanced permit (the eighteen to twenty form of the enhanced permit, SDCL 23-7-54.2). Issued on the sheriff's approval to an applicant who meets SDCL 23-7-53 and SDCL 23-7-54, and labeled as restricted. It is named in the campus statutes. At twenty-one the holder may write the Secretary of State for an unrestricted enhanced permit at no additional cost (SDCL 23-7-54.4).
• Gold card permit (SDCL 23-7-60, SDCL 23-7-63). Fingerprint-based background check, no course. It is not named in the capitol or campus provisions.

An expired permit carries a thirty-day grace period for continued concealed carry (SDCL 23-7-8.13), unless the holder committed a disqualifying crime or applied to renew and was denied for a SDCL 23-7-7.1 reason (SDCL 23-7-8.14). Revocation runs on two tracks, split by mechanism rather than by permit tier. The first needs a court: a permit to carry a concealed pistol is revoked by circuit court order after a show cause hearing, which a prosecuting attorney may bring on a law enforcement officer's application, and the holder then surrenders the permit to the sheriff of the county in which he resides (SDCL 23-7-8.4). Unless a section says otherwise, SDCL 23-7-57 carries that track across the enhanced and gold card permits too, so it is not limited to the regular permit. That is not the only way a court reaches a permit: SDCL 25-10-24 lets a court require a defendant to surrender any dangerous weapon or any concealed pistol permit issued under chapter 23-7 in the defendant's possession to local law enforcement. See RED_FLAG. The second track skips the hearing and runs only on the gold card and enhanced permits: they revoke automatically when the holder stops meeting SDCL 23-7-7.1, or becomes prohibited from receiving, possessing, or transporting a firearm by state law or by 18 U.S.C. 922(g) or 922(n) (SDCL 23-7-64), and must be returned to the sheriff at once. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor for anyone who is ineligible to hold a gold card or enhanced permit to possess or present a revoked one (SDCL 23-7-65).

None of these carry provisions attaches a duty to announce that you are armed. See DUTY_TO_INFORM for that question, PERMIT_BASICS and APPLICATION_PROCESS for how each tier is obtained, and RECIPROCITY for travel.

Offense reference

Former offenses

Two statute numbers a reader may still meet are dead. SDCL 32-20-6.6 and SDCL 32-20A-11 were both repealed by SL 2020, ch 121, secs. 1 and 2. Any guide that still cites either as a live carry restriction is citing dead law.

Before you rely on this

Check the current text at sdlegislature.gov before you rely on any of this in class.