SDCL 23-7-7 ends with the sentence that defines the subject: "The issuance of a permit to carry a concealed pistol under this chapter does not impose a...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
SDCL 23-7-7 ends with the sentence that defines the subject: "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." A South Dakota permit is not permission to carry. It is a credential that opens doors permitless carry does not.
There are three: regular, gold card, and enhanced. All run five years, all sit on the same eligibility list, subject to a higher age floor for the enhanced permit, and they differ in what you prove up front and where the card is honored. The Secretary of State's pistol permit FAQ confirms you may hold more than one type at once. Separately from any permit, SDCL 23-7-71 bars a person under eighteen from carrying a concealed pistol except in the presence of a parent or legal guardian.
Under SDCL 23-7-7 a permit "must be issued to any applicant by the sheriff of the county in which the applicant resides," is valid throughout the state, and issues pursuant to SDCL 23-7-7.1. Before issuing, the sheriff must execute and the applicant must pass a background investigation that includes a computer check of available on-line records and a check using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
SDCL 23-7-8 splits the paperwork: the applicant walks out with a copy that serves as the temporary permit, and the Secretary of State issues the official permit on a form it prescribes. SDCL 23-7-8.1 puts the holder's name, address, expiration date, and issuance date on each permit and requires the enhanced and gold card permits to be clearly designated as such. Under SDCL 23-7-8.3 a permit is issued to a specific person only and may not be transferred. Forms and filing are covered in Application Process.
SDCL 23-7-7.1 is the eligibility statute. A temporary permit issues within five days of application if the person:
Item 7 is easy to underestimate. It reaches misdemeanors as well as felonies, it reaches three whole chapters, and a pending charge counts.
Two adjustments sit beside the list. SDCL 23-7-7.5 treats active duty military personnel, and the spouse of an active duty member, with a home of record in South Dakota as having met item 6. Under SDCL 23-7-7.6, where the investigation requires an international criminal history check through INTERPOL, the sheriff issues the temporary permit to an otherwise qualifying applicant within three business days of receiving the INTERPOL response instead.
A denied applicant may appeal to the circuit court under SDCL chapter 1-26. Giving false information or false evidence of identity when applying is a Class 6 felony under SDCL 23-7-12, graded by SDCL 22-6-1(9) at up to two years imprisonment or a four thousand dollar fine, or both.
The regular permit adds nothing to the SDCL 23-7-7.1 list. Pass the background investigation in SDCL 23-7-7 and the sheriff issues, and SDCL 23-7-8.2 makes the permit valid for five years from the date of issuance. Renewal opens ninety days before expiration under SDCL 23-7-8.11 and repeats the same background investigation, with a mail-in route at SDCL 23-7-8.12 for a Guard, Armed Forces, or Reserves member whose permit expires during a deployment outside the state. Mechanics are covered in Renewal Process.
SDCL 23-7-8.13 gives a thirty-day grace period after expiration during which the holder may keep carrying concealed. Note a conflict: the Secretary of State's July 2026 Firearm Handbook prints a sixty-day grace period at this same citation. The statute says thirty days. So does the handbook's own reprint of SDCL 23-7-8.13, and so does the Secretary of State's pistol permit page. Rely on the statute. SDCL 23-7-8.14 strips the grace period from any holder who committed a crime that would make it unlawful to own or possess a gun, or who applied to renew and was denied for a reason in SDCL 23-7-7.1.
SDCL 23-7-60 asks for two things beyond the base list, filed with the sheriff of the county of residence: a copy of the applicant's fingerprints for submission to the FBI, and any governmental agency or entity authorized to receive the information, for a state, national, and international criminal background check, and an authorization to run a criminal background check. The sheriff forwards both to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Under SDCL 23-7-61 the sheriff holds the application until results arrive, then issues a temporary gold card permit within thirty days of application if the applicant meets SDCL 23-7-7.1, is not prohibited under state law or 18 U.S.C. 922(g) or (n), passes the fingerprint check, and passes NICS. It runs five years under SDCL 23-7-63. Renewal under SDCL 23-7-62 opens one hundred eighty days before expiration and closes thirty days after, and takes an online records check plus NICS. No training is involved at any stage.
SDCL 23-7-53 calls this an "optional enhanced permit." The application goes to the sheriff of the county of residence and must include the same FBI fingerprint submission clause as the gold card, plus an authorization to run a fingerprint background check, where SDCL 23-7-60 asks for an authorization to run a criminal background check. Where the sheriff takes the prints, the sheriff must secure them at no additional charge to the applicant. The application must also include proof that the applicant either completed a qualifying handgun course as defined in SDCL 23-7-58 within the preceding twelve months, or is a current or former law enforcement officer who within the preceding twelve months qualified or requalified on a certified shooting course administered by a firearms instructor approved by the Law Enforcement Officers Standards Commission.
SDCL 23-7-58 requires that course to be taught by a National Rifle Association certified instructor who also holds a current certificate of completion from the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation on the use of force, and to include, among its four required components, live fire training of at least ninety-eight rounds of ammunition fired by the student. Course content and instructor certification are covered in Training Requirements.
Timing tracks the gold card. Under SDCL 23-7-54 the sheriff issues a temporary enhanced permit within thirty days of application once the applicant meets SDCL 23-7-7.1, is not state or federally prohibited, and passes both the fingerprint check and NICS. SDCL 23-7-55 makes the permit valid for five years and adds a condition the other tiers do not carry: it "is only valid if carried with a government issued form of identification that includes a picture of the permit holder."
Renewal is the demanding one. Under SDCL 23-7-56 the window opens twelve months before expiration and closes thirty days after, and the holder must pass an online records check and NICS and show that within that window the person completed the live fire component of a qualifying handgun course, received instruction on the use of force standards, and received instruction on relevant criminal statutory changes. A current or former law enforcement officer may instead show a qualification or requalification within the twelve months preceding expiration on a certified shooting course administered by a Law Enforcement Officers Standards Commission approved firearms instructor. Miss the window and the permit is deemed invalid, and getting another means a fresh SDCL 23-7-53 application.
SDCL 23-7-54.2 sets the enhanced permit age at twenty-one or older, notwithstanding any other law. An applicant aged eighteen to twenty who meets SDCL 23-7-53 and SDCL 23-7-54 and any other specified requirements is issued, on the approval of the sheriff of the county where the application was submitted, a temporary restricted enhanced permit clearly designated as being for individuals eighteen to twenty. Under SDCL 23-7-54.4 a holder of an unexpired restricted enhanced permit who reaches twenty-one may request an unrestricted enhanced permit in writing from the Secretary of State, issued at no additional cost.
One warning. SDCL 23-7-7.4 was repealed by SL 2022, ch 69, and SDCL 23-7-54.1 and SDCL 23-7-54.3 were repealed in 2023. Minnehaha County's concealed pistol page still lists "Standard requirements per SDCL 23-7-7.4" for the restricted enhanced permit, and cites SDCL 23-7-7.3, the attorney general's reciprocity comparison statute, for the enhanced permit. Neither citation states a requirement. The live requirements are SDCL 23-7-7.1 plus SDCL 23-7-53, with the age rule in SDCL 23-7-54.2.
Public campuses. SDCL 13-53-56, enacted in 2025, bars the Board of Regents and its institutions from restricting the lawful carrying, possession, storage, or transportation of a concealed pistol as defined in SDCL 22-1-2, and compatible ammunition, by an individual holding an enhanced permit, a restricted enhanced permit, or a reciprocal permit under chapter 23-7, within the boundaries of the institution, or in any building or structure owned or leased by the board or the institution. SDCL 13-39A-43 imposes the identical rule on the Board of Technical Education. Neither names a regular or gold card permit. SDCL 13-53-57 and SDCL 13-39A-44 give back a narrow set of exceptions and require the pistol to be stored in a locked case or safe whenever the individual is not carrying or in possession of it. Those exceptions are covered in Prohibited Places.
K-12 and the state capitol. Two criminal statutes carry an exemption that only an enhanced permit unlocks. Under SDCL 13-32-7(3) an individual who is twenty-one or older, holds an enhanced permit, and has written permission from the principal or other person with general control and supervision of the building or grounds is exempt from SDCL 13-32-7's Class 1 misdemeanor for weapons on public elementary and secondary school property, which SDCL 22-6-2(1) grades at up to one year in county jail or a two thousand dollar fine, or both. Under SDCL 22-14-24(5) an enhanced permit holder who, at least twenty-four hours before first entering with a concealed pistol, notifies the superintendent of the Division of Highway Patrol of the intended date or range of dates, where a range may not extend beyond December thirty-first and the notice may be renewed without limit, is exempt from the Class 1 misdemeanor at SDCL 22-14-23 anywhere in the state capitol other than the Supreme Court chamber or an access-controlled private office under security supervision. Both exemptions and their limits are covered in Prohibited Places.
The Secretary of State's reciprocity grid lists states honoring all three permits, a shorter list honoring only the enhanced permit, and a couple honoring the gold card. See Reciprocity.
School parking lots. SDCL 13-32-7 was last amended by SL 2025, ch 83, and the version it enacted carries a vehicle exception at subdivision (4): it exempts an individual holding any permit to carry a concealed pistol issued under chapter 23-7 while that individual is inside a motor vehicle, or outside a motor vehicle and securing a pistol in or retrieving a pistol from the vehicle. Any tier qualifies. The exemption turns on holding a permit, so without one you have to fall within a different subdivision of the statute.
Local government property and covenants. Two more 2025 acts reach carry without touching permits at all. SL 2025, ch 36 bars county, township, and municipal governments from restricting their own employees, officers, and volunteers from lawfully possessing a concealed firearm on government property, subject to carve-outs, and SL 2025, ch 181 voids provisions of a covenant running with the land that restrict the lawful possession, storage, transportation, or discharge of a firearm (SDCL 7-18-35, 8-4-13, 9-14-44, 9-14-45, 43-12-7). See Overview.
The first track requires a court. Under SDCL 23-7-8.4 a prosecuting attorney, on the application of a law enforcement officer, applies to the circuit court for an order to show cause why a person's permit to carry a concealed pistol should not be revoked, and on the court's order after a hearing the permit is revoked and the holder must immediately surrender it to the sheriff of the county of residence. 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.
The second track skips the hearing and runs only on the enhanced and gold card permits. Under SDCL 23-7-64 the permit is automatically revoked on a failure to maintain the SDCL 23-7-7.1 requirements or when the holder becomes prohibited under state law or 18 U.S.C. 922(g) or (n), and the holder must immediately return the card to the county sheriff. If it is not returned, the sheriff secures its return forthwith where the disqualifier is a violent crime or a crime punishable by more than one year of incarceration, and as soon as reasonably possible for any other disqualifying offense. A holder who believes the permit was unlawfully secured may petition the circuit court for its return.
Two Class 1 misdemeanors attach, each punishable under SDCL 22-6-2(1) by up to one year in county jail or a two thousand dollar fine, or both: possessing or presenting a revoked enhanced or gold card permit while ineligible to hold one, under SDCL 23-7-65, and failing or refusing to surrender a revoked one on lawful demand, under SDCL 23-7-67, which also charges the violator ten dollars and fifty cents plus mileage for an officer's recovery trip and makes nonpayment a Class 2 misdemeanor (up to thirty days or five hundred dollars under SDCL 22-6-2(2)). Under SDCL 23-7-66 a court entering a disqualifying conviction collects these permits and forwards them to the sheriff of the defendant's county of residence. SDCL 23-7-68 lets law enforcement periodically run NICS on enhanced and gold card holders to confirm continued eligibility.
SDCL 23-7-69 requires a holder to notify the Secretary of State in writing of a name change due to marriage or court order, or a change of physical address, and the Secretary of State must provide a new permit if the revised address is in South Dakota. The same section allows an out-of-state address on the card for an active duty military member or spouse with a South Dakota home of record, and for a holder whose home is physically in South Dakota but whose official postal address falls in a bordering-state county.
Two liability limits close the chapter. Under SDCL 23-7-7.2 an authority that issued a permit in accordance with the chapter is not liable for injury, wrongful death, or damages because it issued the permit. Under SDCL 23-7-59.1 an instructor certified under SDCL 23-7-59 is not liable for a current or former student's handling of a firearm unless the instructor engaged in gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct while providing instruction. And SDCL 23-7-57 is the glue: unless otherwise specified, the chapter's references, rights, and responsibilities for a permit to carry a concealed pistol also apply to the enhanced and gold card permits.
It does not change who may possess a firearm. Item 10 of SDCL 23-7-7.1 incorporates the federal disabilities at 18 U.S.C. 922(g) and (n), and losing eligibility after issuance is what triggers automatic revocation for the enhanced and gold card tiers.
It does not tell you the price. The amounts in SDCL 23-7-72 are what the Secretary of State reimburses counties for permits issued on or after July 1, 2022, not the fee an applicant pays. See Fees and Costs.
This page covers one part of our South Dakota concealed carry guide.
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