Open carry of a handgun is generally lawful in Virginia without a permit for any person who is at least 18 years old and not otherwise prohibited from...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Open carry of a handgun is generally lawful in Virginia without a permit for any person who is at least 18 years old and not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm. The Virginia State Police summarizes the rule the same way: a firearm may be carried openly except where prohibited by statute. (VSP Firearms FAQ; Va. Code 18.2-279 through 18.2-311.2.)
There is no state-mandated open-carry training, no state license, and no application. You may carry a holstered handgun visibly on your hip on a public street, in a public park, or in a private business that has not posted against it. The constraints are location-based, conduct-based, and configuration-based, not method-of-carry-based.
Open carry is not the same thing as concealed carry. The moment a covering garment hides the handgun from common observation, the carry becomes concealed and the general prohibition at Va. Code 18.2-308 applies. Without a valid Virginia Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP) or a recognized out-of-state permit, that crosses into a Class 1 misdemeanor on the first offense. See the CONCEALED_CARRY and CONSTITUTIONAL_CARRY sections for the full open-vs-concealed distinction.
You may open carry a handgun in Virginia if all three are true:
If you cannot lawfully possess a handgun, you cannot open carry one. The federal prohibitor list is not waived by Virginia's permissive open-carry posture.
Virginia's open-carry rule is broader than many students assume. None of the following are required to open carry a handgun:
What does apply is the conduct rule at Va. Code 18.2-282 (brandishing), the locality-specific configuration restriction at Va. Code 18.2-287.4, and the state and local prohibited-places framework. Each is treated below.
The single most consequential overlay on Virginia open carry is Va. Code 18.2-287.4. The statute names 13 specific jurisdictions: 8 cities and 5 counties. Inside any of those 13 localities, it is a Class 1 misdemeanor to carry on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, public park, or other place open to the public a loaded firearm of a narrowly defined configuration:
The 13 named jurisdictions are:
Read the statutory configuration carefully. A loaded handgun with a magazine that does not exceed 20 rounds, that is not designed for a silencer, and that is not equipped with a folding stock falls outside the text of Va. Code 18.2-287.4 even inside one of the 13 named jurisdictions. The statute is targeted at high-capacity semi-automatic long guns and pistols, not at every loaded firearm.
Statutory exemptions in the text cover law-enforcement officers, licensed security guards, military personnel in the performance of their lawful duties, any person holding a valid Virginia concealed handgun permit, and any person actually engaged in lawful hunting or lawful recreational shooting at an established range or contest. The statute also provides that the exemptions in Va. Code 18.2-308 and 18.2-308.016 apply. A CHP holder is exempt from Va. Code 18.2-287.4 entirely.
Outside the 13 named jurisdictions, the statewide open-carry rule applies without this layered restriction. A loaded AR-15 on a sling on a sidewalk in (for example) Roanoke or Lynchburg does not violate Va. Code 18.2-287.4; the same configuration on a sidewalk in Richmond does.
Open carry is legal; brandishing is not. Va. Code 18.2-282 makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to point, hold, or brandish any firearm, air or gas operated weapon, or any object similar in appearance, in such a manner as to reasonably induce fear in the mind of another. The statute does not apply to a person engaged in excusable or justifiable self-defense. If the violation occurs upon, or on public property within 1,000 feet of, a public, private, or religious elementary, middle, or high school, the offense is enhanced to a Class 6 felony.
Open carry in a holster, retained and not drawn, is not brandishing. Drawing the handgun without justification, pointing it, or carrying it in a hand at low ready while approaching another person can all support a brandishing charge.
The Va. Code 18.2-282 risk is the practical reason open carry in Virginia is more legally exposed than concealed carry. A concealed handgun is, by definition, hidden; a holstered handgun on the hip is visible to every passerby. Anyone who reports feeling threatened becomes a witness. Train students to keep the firearm holstered and avoid manipulating it in public.
Virginia's principal prohibition on carrying while intoxicated is at Va. Code 18.2-308.012, and it is written to cover concealed carry by a CHP holder. Under that statute, any person permitted to carry a concealed handgun who is under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs while carrying in a public place is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor; the court must revoke the permit, and the person is ineligible to reapply for five years.
The statute does not impose an equivalent open-carry intoxication offense. The result is asymmetric: the concealed-carry-while-under-the-influence offense applies to permit holders carrying concealed, and there is no parallel statutory open-carry intoxication crime.
Three caveats for instructors:
Treat open-carry-while-drinking as a setting where Virginia statute does not create a specific open-carry crime but practical and trespass risk is high.
Open carry does not unlock any prohibited location. The same statutory and federal off-limits list that governs concealed carry governs open carry, including:
The PROHIBITED_PLACES section walks through each of these with grading, exemptions, and signage rules.
Before 2020, Virginia's preemption statute foreclosed nearly all local firearm regulation. The 2020 amendment to Va. Code 15.2-915 added subsection (E), which authorizes a locality to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the possession, carrying, or transportation of firearms in:
Signs giving reasonable notice are required. Localities that have enacted such ordinances include Richmond, Alexandria, and Newport News, among others. Open carriers must read the signs at the entrance to a city hall, a city park, or a permitted event before entering.
This is a different rule from Va. Code 18.2-287.4. Va. Code 18.2-287.4 reaches a specific high-capacity firearm configuration in 13 named localities statewide; Va. Code 15.2-915(E) authorizes each locality individually to ban firearms in specific locality-owned venues.
State parks are open to open carry. A 2008 opinion of the Attorney General held that the Department of Conservation and Recreation had no authority to prohibit open carry in state parks, and in 2011 the predecessor regulation (4VAC5-30-200) was directed to cease enforcement and was later repealed. State parks remain open for open carry of a handgun by a non-prohibited person, subject to hunting and trapping rules.
Executive branch office buildings are a separate regime. Under the Department of General Services regulation governing weapons in executive branch buildings (1VAC30-105) and DGS Directive 16, the executive branch has prohibited open carry in buildings owned, leased, or controlled by executive branch agencies. The regulation does not reach parking facilities, recreational lodges, employee housing, interstate rest areas, or public hunting lands; institutions of higher education with their own firearms policy are treated separately.
In sum: state parks are open; executive branch office buildings are closed by agency regulation; state forest offices are closed indoors by 1VAC30-105-40.
Virginia is a trespass-driven private-property state for open carry. A private property owner, operator, or lessee may exclude firearms from their property by posting signage, communicating the policy verbally, or adopting a written policy and giving notice on entry. There is no statutory sign-form requirement; a clear "no firearms" notice suffices.
If you carry openly into a private business that has not posted and the operator sees the handgun and asks you to leave, you must leave. Refusing to leave after being forbidden to remain is criminal trespass under Va. Code 18.2-119, a Class 1 misdemeanor. The lawful carry on entry does not insulate against the trespass charge once notice is given.
Open carry at a demonstration is governed by ordinary brandishing and prohibited-places rules, plus any locality ordinance in effect under Va. Code 15.2-915(E). Firearms may be worn openly by anyone who may lawfully possess one, but carrying in a manner that reasonably induces fear can be charged as brandishing under Va. Code 18.2-282. The 2020 amendment to Va. Code 15.2-915 lets localities prohibit firearms at permitted events on public rights-of-way; signage is required.
A separate statute, Va. Code 18.2-433.2, makes paramilitary activity a Class 5 felony. Carrying lawfully at a protest is not paramilitary activity. Teaching or demonstrating the use of a firearm or technique capable of causing injury, knowing or intending that the training will be used in furtherance of a civil disorder, or assembling to train with firearms for that purpose, is a different offense.
Open carry in a personal vehicle is treated the same as open carry on foot for the configuration restriction and the brandishing rule, but the concealed-vs-open distinction matters more in a vehicle than anywhere else. A handgun visibly displayed on the passenger seat or the dashboard is open carry. A handgun hidden from common observation in the vehicle can support a concealed-weapon charge under Va. Code 18.2-308.
Va. Code 18.2-308(C)(8) provides that the concealed-carry prohibition does not apply to any person who may lawfully possess a firearm and is carrying a handgun while in a personal, private motor vehicle or vessel when the handgun is secured in a container or compartment in the vehicle or vessel. That rule operates as an exception to the concealed-carry prohibition and is covered fully in the VEHICLE_CARRY section.
The practical point for open carriers: if the handgun is in plain view (holstered on the hip, visible on the seat or dashboard), it is open carry and the statewide rule applies. If you cover it with anything, you are now concealed carrying and need a CHP or must rely on the secured-container exception.
| Conduct | Statute | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Lawful open carry by non-prohibited person 18+ | (None) | Not an offense |
| Concealed carry without a permit (handgun hidden from common observation) | Va. Code 18.2-308(A) | Class 1 misdemeanor (1st); Class 6 felony (2nd); Class 5 felony (3rd+) |
| Loaded covered-configuration firearm in 1 of 13 named jurisdictions (without exemption) | Va. Code 18.2-287.4 | Class 1 misdemeanor |
| Brandishing a firearm | Va. Code 18.2-282(A) | Class 1 misdemeanor |
| Brandishing on or within 1,000 ft of a school | Va. Code 18.2-282(A) | Class 6 felony |
| Firearm on school, preschool, or child day center property | Va. Code 18.2-308.1(B) | Class 6 felony |
| Firearm into an air carrier airport terminal | Va. Code 18.2-287.01 | Class 1 misdemeanor |
| Firearm in Capitol Square or a state building | Va. Code 18.2-283.2 | Class 1 misdemeanor |
| Firearm into a courthouse | Va. Code 18.2-283.1 | Class 1 misdemeanor |
| Dangerous weapon at a place of worship during religious meeting (no good cause) | Va. Code 18.2-283 | Class 4 misdemeanor |
| Firearm within 40 ft of a polling place | Va. Code 24.2-604(A)(iv) | Class 1 misdemeanor |
| Reckless handling of a firearm | Va. Code 18.2-56.1(A) | Class 1 misdemeanor |
| Trespass after being forbidden to remain | Va. Code 18.2-119 | Class 1 misdemeanor |
| Felon in possession of a firearm | Va. Code 18.2-308.2 | Class 6 felony (5-yr mandatory minimum if prior violent felony; 2-yr mandatory minimum if other prior felony within 10 yrs) |
| Paramilitary activity | Va. Code 18.2-433.2 | Class 5 felony |
| Federal Gun-Free School Zone Act violation (within 1,000 ft K-12, no license exemption) | 18 U.S.C. 922(q) | Federal felony, up to 5 years |
Class 4 misdemeanor: up to a $250 fine, no confinement. Class 1 misdemeanor: up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine. Class 6 felony: 1 to 5 years (or, at the discretion of a jury or the court, up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine). Class 5 felony: 1 to 10 years (or, at the discretion of a jury or the court, up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine).
A Virginia CHP travels under the recognition statute at Va. Code 18.2-308.014 and the corresponding statutes of other states. Open carry has no reciprocity component because it requires no permit to travel. Each destination state has its own open-carry rule. Some neighboring states ban open carry outright in many public places; some require a permit; some impose population-triggered local restrictions. Verify the destination's law before relying on Virginia's permissive default. See the RECIPROCITY section for how Virginia recognizes out-of-state concealed handgun permits.
You may open carry a handgun in Virginia, without a permit, if all of the following are true:
If you cover the handgun with anything, you are now concealed carrying and need a CHP (or must rely on the vehicle secured-container exception). If you cross any of the location lines above, the conduct becomes a discrete criminal offense regardless of method of carry. Open carry in Virginia is permissive by default and constrained by these conditions.
This page covers one part of our Virginia concealed carry guide.
Read the complete Virginia guideBrowse local instructors offering state-approved training in your area. Book online, complete your training, and get one step closer to your concealed carry permit.