South Dakota Concealed Carry Reciprocity: States That Honor It

Reciprocity

South Dakota is a permitless carry state, so the reciprocity question runs mostly one way. If you are visiting, you do not need a permit at all: SDCL 23-7-7 says that issuing a concealed pistol permit "does not impose a general prohibition on the carrying of a pistol without a permit," and the Secretary of State puts it practically: "South Dakota residents and nonresidents who may lawfully possess a pistol are not required to have a permit in order to carry a concealed pistol in the state." If you live here, the permit does two jobs. Inside South Dakota it is what the capitol, school-vehicle, and campus carve-outs below are written around, each keyed to a chapter 23-7 permit. Outside South Dakota it is the document a destination state examines when it decides whether you may carry on its ground, and that is where most of its value sits.

The model: the Secretary of State runs it, the Attorney General screens it

SDCL 23-7-7.3 is the reciprocity statute. It names no state and does not itself declare which out-of-state permits South Dakota honors. It creates a two-office process:

• The attorney general "shall compare South Dakota permit issuance statutes with the permit issuance statutes in states with which reciprocity is sought or requested in order to determine whether the laws of the other state meet or exceed the requirements of this chapter for the issuance of a permit."
• "The secretary of state may enter into reciprocity agreements with other states after the attorney general has notified the secretary of state that the other states' laws meet or exceed the provisions of this chapter."

The Attorney General certifies; the Secretary of State signs and owns the list. Note that the statute's yardstick is the other state's permit issuance statutes, not its carry rules: a state can meet the issuance standard and still restrict where you carry inside it.

Coming to South Dakota with an out-of-state permit

Your permit is honored, and it is also mostly beside the point. The Firearm Handbook states the recognition rule: "The state of South Dakota recognizes any valid concealed pistol permit issued to a nonresident of South Dakota, according to the terms of its issuance in the state of its issue." The FAQ adds that South Dakota issues no nonresident permits, "but South Dakota recognizes valid concealed pistol permits from all other U.S. states for individuals who may lawfully possess a concealed pistol."

Read the qualifier: recognition runs to people who may lawfully possess, and a permit from anywhere does not cure a disability:

• A person convicted "in this state or elsewhere" of a crime of violence, or of a felony under one of the controlled substances sections listed in SDCL 22-14-15, may not possess or have control of a firearm. Violation is a Class 6 felony, which SDCL 22-6-1 sets at two years imprisonment in a state correctional facility or a four thousand dollar fine, or both. The bar does not apply to a person last discharged from prison, jail, probation, or parole more than fifteen years before the principal offense. SDCL 22-14-15.1 runs a parallel Class 6 felony bar on a person convicted of a felony under chapter 22-42, or of a felony for a crime with the same elements in another state, and lifts five years after last discharge rather than fifteen, unless SDCL 22-14-15 independently reaches the person. SDCL 22-14-15.2 bars possession for one year after a misdemeanor conviction involving an act of domestic violence, a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• Two sections run on minors and they stack. Under SDCL 23-7-71, a person under eighteen may not carry a concealed pistol except in the presence of a parent or legal guardian. That section states the prohibition without setting a grade in its own text; SDCL 22-6-2 supplies a Class 2 misdemeanor default, thirty days in county jail or a five hundred dollar fine, or both, for a prohibited act outside the titles it enumerates. Treat that grading as the default rather than as an express penalty. Separately, SDCL 23-7-44 makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person under eighteen to knowingly possess a pistol at all, one year in county jail or a two thousand dollar fine, or both, under SDCL 22-6-2. The exceptions in SDCL 23-7-45 are narrower than parental presence: they require the prior written consent of a parent or guardian and one of three circumstances, being on premises owned or leased by the minor or the minor's parent, guardian, or immediate family member, being in the presence of a licensed or accredited gun safety instructor, or using the pistol for farming, ranching, hunting, trapping, target shooting, or gun safety instruction. Nothing about holding an out-of-state permit changes either section.

There are also places where a visitor's permit buys nothing, because the exception is written around South Dakota permits specifically:

• County courthouses and the state capitol. Knowing possession of a firearm or other dangerous weapon there is a Class 1 misdemeanor under SDCL 22-14-23, one year in county jail or a two thousand dollar fine, or both, under SDCL 22-6-2. SDCL 22-14-27 bars a defendant prosecuted under SDCL 22-14-23 from claiming a chapter 23-7 permit as a defense. The permit-based exception in SDCL 22-14-24(5) reaches the state capitol only, not county courthouses, excludes the Supreme Court chamber and access-controlled private offices under security supervision, and requires an enhanced permit "issued in accordance with § 23-7-53" plus notice to the superintendent of the Division of Highway Patrol at least twenty-four hours before first entry. The courthouse half moves county by county. SDCL 22-14-28 lets a county commission waive the SDCL 22-14-23 provisions that apply to a county courthouse by a majority of its members-elect, and SDCL 22-14-24(7) excepts "the lawful carrying of a firearm or other dangerous weapon in a county courthouse incident to a hunter safety or a gun safety course or for any other lawful purposes," while SDCL 22-14-25 leaves each court its own contempt and rulemaking power over weapons within any building housing the court and on grounds pertinent to it, except as to the authorizations SDCL 22-14-24 sets out. Ask the county first.
• Public elementary and secondary schools. SDCL 13-32-7 makes possession there a Class 1 misdemeanor, and both of its permit-based exceptions, the one for a holder twenty-one or older with an enhanced permit and written permission from the principal or other person who has general control and supervision of the building or grounds, and the one for a permit holder inside a motor vehicle, or outside it securing a pistol in or retrieving a pistol from the vehicle, run on a permit "issued in accordance with chapter 23-7." That is a South Dakota permit.

If you move here, your old permit does not convert. The FAQ is explicit that pistol permits from other states "are not transferable for South Dakota permits," and you apply at the sheriff's office in your county of residence.

Leaving South Dakota: why residents still get a permit

South Dakota issues three permits, each valid for five years under SDCL 23-7-8.2, SDCL 23-7-55, and SDCL 23-7-63, and the differences are what other states weigh:

• Regular permit. Issued by the sheriff of the county where you reside under SDCL 23-7-7, on the SDCL 23-7-7.1 criteria, including being eighteen or older and passing a background investigation with a National Instant Criminal Background Check.
• Gold card permit. SDCL 23-7-60 requires the applicant's fingerprints for submission to the FBI for a state, national, and international criminal background check, and SDCL 23-7-61 conditions the sheriff's issuance of the temporary gold card permit, within thirty days of application, on passing both that fingerprint check and a NICS check.
• Enhanced permit. SDCL 23-7-53 requires that same fingerprint submission to the FBI, plus proof, within the preceding twelve months, of either a qualifying handgun course or, for a current or former law enforcement officer, qualification on a certified shooting course administered by an instructor approved by the Law Enforcement Officers Standards Commission. SDCL 23-7-58 defines that course, which must be taught by an NRA certified instructor holding a current South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation use of force certificate and must include live fire of at least ninety-eight rounds. Under SDCL 23-7-55 the enhanced permit is valid only when carried with a government issued photo identification.

That layering matters. SDCL 23-7-7.3 asks whether another state's issuance statutes meet or exceed South Dakota's, and the enhanced permit is the one built on a fingerprint-based FBI check plus training rather than a name check alone. On the Secretary of State's 03/31/2026 grid, six states accepted the enhanced permit and no other South Dakota permit.

Keeping the permit in a condition another state will accept

Recognition abroad runs on a valid permit:

• Grace periods. SDCL 23-7-8.13 gives a thirty-day grace period after expiration during which the holder may continue to carry. SDCL 23-7-8.14 withholds that grace from a holder who committed a crime that would make it unlawful to own or possess a gun, or who was denied renewal for a reason in SDCL 23-7-7.1. Nothing in SDCL 23-7-8.13 binds another state, so renew before you travel rather than testing it.
• Automatic revocation. Under SDCL 23-7-64, a gold card or enhanced permit is automatically revoked if the holder stops meeting the SDCL 23-7-7.1 requirements or becomes prohibited under state law or 18 U.S.C. 922(g) or 922(n), and it must be returned at once to the county sheriff.
• Name and address. SDCL 23-7-69 requires written notice to the Secretary of State of a name change by marriage or court order and of a change of physical address.

What the Secretary of State's grid said on 03/31/2026

The Secretary of State publishes a reciprocity map and a Reciprocity Grid dated 03/31/2026. The grid is framed outbound, as where a South Dakota resident may carry, and on that date it sorted the other forty-nine states into four groups:

• Regular, gold card, and enhanced all accepted (31 states): Alabama, Alaska*, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado*, Florida*, Georgia*, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas*, Kentucky*, Louisiana*, Maine, Michigan*, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina*, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania*, Tennessee*, Texas, Utah*, Vermont, Virginia*, West Virginia*, Wyoming*.
• Gold card carry permitted: Wisconsin and Washington.
• Enhanced carry permitted: Delaware, Minnesota, Nebraska*, Nevada, South Carolina, Washington*, Wisconsin, New Mexico*. Washington and Wisconsin appear under both this heading and the gold card heading.
• States where a South Dakota resident may not carry concealed: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island.

The asterisk means recognition only for permits issued to those twenty-one years of age or older.

Treat that as a dated snapshot, not a standing rule. The Secretary of State's page carries two warnings: "Concealed weapons permit holders are responsible for checking with the proper authorities prior to carrying concealed weapons," and "Other states do not always notify our office of law changes." Pull the current grid from the Concealed Carry Reciprocity page before any trip.

The twenty-one asterisk and the eighteen to twenty permit holder

South Dakota issues to adults at eighteen under SDCL 23-7-7.1(1). Fifteen of the thirty-one states in the grid's top group carried the asterisk on 03/31/2026. For the enhanced permit, SDCL 23-7-54.2 sets the age at twenty-one and gives an eighteen to twenty year old applicant who otherwise qualifies a temporary restricted enhanced permit clearly designated as such. SDCL 23-7-54.4 lets the holder of an unexpired restricted enhanced permit swap it for an unrestricted one at no additional cost on turning twenty-one. If you are under twenty-one, the asterisked states on the grid are closed to you even though your permit is valid in South Dakota.

Campus carry and the "reciprocal permit"

Two 2025 sections put a reciprocity term into the statutes governing South Dakota's public postsecondary boards. SDCL 13-53-56 bars the Board of Regents and its institutions, and SDCL 13-39A-43 bars the Board of Technical Education and its institutions, from restricting the lawful carrying, possession, storage, or transportation of a concealed pistol as defined in SDCL 22-1-2 "by any individual holding an enhanced permit, a restricted enhanced permit, or a reciprocal permit in accordance with chapter 23-7."

Two cautions. First, neither section defines "reciprocal permit," and the chapter's reciprocity provision, SDCL 23-7-7.3, confers authority on the attorney general and the secretary of state rather than creating a permit type an individual can hold. How a board applies the term to an out-of-state permit holder is not answered by these sections, so ask the institution and the Secretary of State first. Second, the protection is not absolute: SDCL 13-53-57 and SDCL 13-39A-44 let the boards restrict carry in four enumerated settings: a clearly designated portion of a building holding listed hazards such as flammable liquids, hazardous materials, gas cylinders, or magnetic resonance imaging equipment; a controlled-particulate room used for manufacturing or scientific research; a clearly designated portion under a facility or federal security clearance; and an entire building or structure during a special event with metal detectors and armed security personnel at every public entrance. They also require the item to be stored in a locked case or safe when not carried or possessed.

Officers: LEOSA is a separate track

Qualified law enforcement officers under 18 U.S.C. 926B and qualified retired officers under 18 U.S.C. 926C may carry a concealed firearm notwithstanding state law, provided they carry the identification each section requires. Neither section overrides a state law permitting private property owners to bar firearms, or a state law restricting firearms on state or local government property, installations, buildings, bases, or parks. SDCL 22-14-24(4) writes LEOSA into the capitol rule, excepting possession of a concealed pistol in the state capitol by a qualified law enforcement officer or qualified retired officer under the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004.

Federal rules reciprocity does not solve

• School zones. The Gun-Free School Zones Act exception at 18 U.S.C. 922(q)(2)(B)(ii) applies only if the person "is licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located or a political subdivision of the State," and only where that state or subdivision's law requires its law enforcement authorities to verify the applicant's eligibility before the license issues. A South Dakota permit does not qualify you in another state's school zone.
• Driving through a closed state. 18 U.S.C. 926A protects transport of a firearm from a place where you may lawfully possess and carry it to another such place, if the firearm is unloaded and neither it nor the ammunition is readily accessible or directly accessible from the passenger compartment. In a vehicle without a separate compartment, the firearm or ammunition must be in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console.

Before you travel, check the destination state directly.