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Maine Concealed Carry Permit

Maine allows permitless carry for non-prohibited adults 21+. A CHP is still available and is what other states recognize.

Permitless carry is legal in Maine

A non-prohibited adult aged 21 or older may carry a concealed handgun without a permit (since 2015). Maine has permitless ("constitutional") carry, effective October 15, 2015 (P.L. 2015, ch. 327 / LD 652). I read 25 M.R.S. 2001-A today: subsection 2(A-1) exempts from the concealed-carry prohibition "A handgun carried by a person who is 21 years of age or older and is not otherwise prohibited from carrying a firearm or is 18 years of age or older and under 21 years of age and is on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Guard or is an honorably discharged veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Guard and is not otherwise prohibited from carrying a firearm." So: 21+ non-prohibited adults need no permit; 18-20 year olds need either qualifying military status OR a permit. The MSP page confirms the rule applies to residents and nonresidents alike, and that the same law allows a loaded pistol or revolver in a motor vehicle. IMPORTANT: a person carrying concealed WITHOUT a permit has a duty under 25 M.R.S. 2003-A to immediately inform any law enforcement officer of that fact on first contact during any arrest, detainment or routine traffic stop; a permit holder has no such duty. A 2025-2026 bill to repeal that duty (LD 1049) was not enacted. Permitless carry does not override location restrictions (courthouses, schools, posted liquor establishments, the state capitol area, state parks, Acadia, wildlife sanctuaries and others) or federal/state prohibited-person law, and 2001-A(3) requires a person relying on the A-1 exemption to sign an acknowledgment that they received a basic firearm safety brochure when buying a handgun. A permit remains useful for out-of-state reciprocity and for the Maine locations (Acadia National Park, state parks, regular archery deer hunting, an employee's vehicle on work premises) where only a permit holder may carry. SEPARATE FROM CARRY: Maine's 72-hour waiting period on firearm DELIVERY after a purchase agreement (25 M.R.S. 2016) is in force today, but it is a purchase rule and does not restrict carrying a firearm already owned; see uncertainties for its litigation history.

Getting the permit anyway is still worth it for most people: other states recognize the permit, not your residency, so without one you generally cannot carry across state lines.

25 M.R.S. 2001-A(2)(A-1)

There are 10 details on this page we could not confirm from a primary source. Read what they are before relying on this.

Requirements at a glance

Permit name Concealed Handgun Permit
Issuing authority Dual system. The Maine State Police, Weapons and Professional Licensing Unit (WPLU) is the issuing authority for the unorganized territories, for approximately 360 municipalities that have no full-time chief of police (the figure the MSP page itself states), and for ALL nonresident applications. In a municipality with its own police department the municipal chief of police is the issuing authority and the applicant must apply there. Two reassignment routes exist: under 25 M.R.S. 2002-A the municipal officers of a municipality WITHOUT a full-time chief of police may designate the State Police as issuing authority by written agreement, if the Chief of the State Police agrees; under 25 M.R.S. 2002-B (enacted by PL 2021, c. 619) the municipal officers of any municipality may instead designate the chief of police of an adjacent municipality or the sheriff of the county, if that chief or sheriff agrees. Whichever authority issues, it performs all issuing-authority functions including suspension and revocation, and it receives the fees. Applicants should check the MSP 'Concealed Handgun Permits - Town Listing' PDF first; if their town is not on it, they apply to their local police department or town office.
System shall-issue
Minimum age 18 — The minimum age to APPLY for a Maine Concealed Handgun Permit is 18. I read the statute today: 25 M.R.S. 2003(1)(A) requires only that the applicant "Is 18 years of age or older". This is distinct from permitless carry, which requires 21 (or 18-20 with active-duty or honorably-discharged military status). An 18-20 year old with no qualifying military service can therefore carry concealed in Maine only by obtaining a permit. The same age floor of 18 applies whether the issuing authority is the State Police or a municipal chief of police, because it is fixed by statute rather than by the issuing authority.
Training required Yes
State fee $50 initial / $35 renewal — the state's own charge, not the total
Valid for 4 years
Processing time Set by statute for BOTH the State Police and municipal issuing authorities: 25 M.R.S. 2003(12) requires the issuing authority to issue or deny, and to reply in writing as to the reason for any denial, within 30 days of the application date for an applicant who has been a Maine resident for 5 or more years, and within 60 days for a nonresident or for a resident of less than 5 years. If the authority fails to act on a RENEWAL within those limits, 2003(12) extends the validity of the expired permit until it issues or denies. Renewal applications may be mailed up to 6 months before the expiration date. The 4-year term in validityYears is likewise statutory (2003(8)) and identical on both routes.
Fingerprints Not required
Non-resident permit Available

What it actually costs

The state fee is rarely the whole bill. Fingerprinting is usually charged by a private vendor, training is bought from an instructor, and several states add photographs, notarisation or other requirements on top.

State fee $50
Training course $75–$250 (private instructor)
Non-resident permit $80 — the same $80 for an original and a renewal; nonresidents apply only to the Maine State Police
Change of address $2 — must be filed within 30 days of moving or the permit is void; absorbed into the renewal fee if a change of address and a renewal coincide
Realistic total $125–$300

25 M.R.S. 2003(1)(E)(4), as amended by PL 2025, c. 388, Pt. VVV and effective 24 September 2025, sets $50 for a resident original and $35 for a resident renewal; a nonresident pays $80 either way. stateFee above is the resident original. The same statutory amounts apply whether the issuing authority is the State Police or a municipal chief of police. There is no fingerprint fee, because fingerprints are taken only if needed to resolve a question of identity, and 2003(17) forbids a law enforcement agency from charging the issuing authority for an applicant record check or background check. The statute asks only that an applicant 'demonstrate to the issuing authority a knowledge of handgun safety', with no hour count and no express live fire, and a course completed within the previous five years satisfies it - so an applicant who already holds a recent certificate, or who has military basic firearms training, pays only the $50 plus the cost of a passport-style photo. The $75-$250 training range is an estimate of private course prices, not a state-published figure. An issuing authority may waive the fee entirely for a law enforcement officer certified by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

The fees.initial and fees.renewal figures above are the RESIDENT amounts. Resident: $50 original, $35 renewal. Nonresident: $80 for BOTH original and renewal (nonresidents apply only to the Maine State Police). This schedule is statutory, at 25 M.R.S. 2003(1)(E)(4) as amended by PL 2025, c. 388, Pt. VVV, Sec. 1, effective September 24, 2025. I verified the statutory text, the MSP WPLU memo dated August 13, 2025 announcing the change, and the fee boxes printed on the current forms ('MAINE RESIDENT NEW ($50.00) RENEW ($35.00) / NON-RESIDENT NEW ($80.00) RENEW ($80.00)'). Because the schedule is statutory, MUNICIPAL issuing authorities charge the same amounts as the State Police; a municipality may not set its own permit fee. A legacy credit exists for persons who paid $60 for a permit or renewal during 1991 or 1992 ($30 credit if paid for an original, $45 if paid for a renewal), valid until fully used. An issuing authority MAY waive the fee for a law enforcement officer certified by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy (2003(13)). Checks are payable to "Treasurer, State of Maine". If the wrong fee is submitted, MSP sends a letter requesting the corrected payment and the application is placed on hold until it is received. A separate $2.00 fee applies to a change of address, and is absorbed into the renewal fee if the two coincide.

How to apply

  1. Determine your issuing authority: check the Maine State Police 'Concealed Handgun Permits - Town Listing' PDF. If your town is on it, or you are a nonresident, apply to the Maine State Police Weapons and Professional Licensing Unit. If your town is not listed, apply to your municipal police department or town office. Note that some towns have instead designated an adjacent chief of police or the county sheriff under 25 M.R.S. 2002-B.
  2. Download the correct form from the Maine State Police page: 'Resident New/Renewal Concealed Handguns Permit Application' or 'Non-Resident New/Renewal Concealed Handguns Permit Application'. Only the versions posted on or after September 24, 2025 are valid; the MSP fee memo states that all earlier application versions found online are obsolete.
  3. Complete ALL pages of the 6-page application, including the personal and criminal-history questions. MSP warns that failure to fully complete the application can cause delays, and the official FAQ confirms that renewal applicants must still complete the entire application.
  4. Complete the 3-page 'Authority and Authorization to Release Information' forms that accompany the application; these are required for new AND renewal applications and authorize the background checks. The witness signature may be anyone aged 18 or older who knows you.
  5. Enclose one passport-quality colour photograph, approximately 2 inches by 2 inches, headshot only (head and shoulders), wearing no hat and no sunglasses - required for new AND renewal. MSP will not accept a copy of a driver's license or passport as the photo.
  6. New applicants only: enclose a copy of your birth certificate, a current valid passport, or a USCIS document.
  7. New applicants only: enclose proof of knowledge of handgun safety - a copy of a certificate for a qualifying handgun safety course completed within the last 5 years, or a copy of an honorable DD214 showing basic firearms training. Alternatively, ask the issuing authority whether it will accept a personal demonstration of handgun safety knowledge; the statute does not oblige it to offer that option.
  8. Enclose the application fee, payable to 'Treasurer, State of Maine': $50 resident original, $35 resident renewal, $80 nonresident original or renewal.
  9. Do NOT send a fingerprint card. Fingerprints are required only if the issuing authority needs them to resolve a question as to identity (25 M.R.S. 2003(1)(E)(3)); both the resident and nonresident forms ask only that you certify you will submit to being fingerprinted if the issuing authority requires it for that purpose.
  10. Submit the packet to the Maine State Police WPLU (164 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333; offices at 45 Commerce Drive, Suite 1; (207) 624-7210; msp.wplu@maine.gov) or to your municipal issuing authority.
  11. Await the decision: 30 days if you are a Maine resident of 5 or more years, 60 days if you are a nonresident or a resident of less than 5 years.
  12. Carry the permit in your immediate possession at all times when carrying a concealed handgun under it, and display it on demand of any law enforcement officer (25 M.R.S. 2003(11)).
  13. Report any change of address to the issuing authority within 30 days of moving - MSP states that failure to do so VOIDS the permit and makes you a new applicant next time. Send page 1 of the application with the updated address and dates of the move, plus a $2.00 check or money order.
  14. Renew within the 4-year term (renewals may be mailed up to 6 months before the expiration date), or within 6 months after expiration at the renewal rate. More than 6 months after expiration you must submit an original application and pay the original application fee.

Apply on the official Maine site

What disqualifies you

Where to get the required training

Maine does not publish a central list of certified instructors. Confirm directly with Dual system. The Maine State Police, Weapons and Professional Licensing Unit (WPLU) is the issuing authority for the unorganized territories, for approximately 360 municipalities that have no full-time chief of police (the figure the MSP page itself states), and for ALL nonresident applications. In a municipality with its own police department the municipal chief of police is the issuing authority and the applicant must apply there. Two reassignment routes exist: under 25 M.R.S. 2002-A the municipal officers of a municipality WITHOUT a full-time chief of police may designate the State Police as issuing authority by written agreement, if the Chief of the State Police agrees; under 25 M.R.S. 2002-B (enacted by PL 2021, c. 619) the municipal officers of any municipality may instead designate the chief of police of an adjacent municipality or the sheriff of the county, if that chief or sheriff agrees. Whichever authority issues, it performs all issuing-authority functions including suspension and revocation, and it receives the fees. Applicants should check the MSP 'Concealed Handgun Permits - Town Listing' PDF first; if their town is not on it, they apply to their local police department or town office. that a course will be accepted before you pay for it.

Training providers in Maine

Businesses in our directory that offer firearms training. These are not state-verified as certified permit instructors — check against the official list above, or ask the provider directly.

All firearms training in Maine →

Reciprocity

Carrying into Maine

Maine recognizes permits from 23 other jurisdictions.

Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming

28 jurisdictions honor a Maine permit

Derived from what each of those states officially publishes.

Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming

Official Maine reciprocity page Full reciprocity matrix →

Building your own in Maine

Build for personal use
Allowed
Serial number required
Yes

THIS FIELD HAS CHANGED SINCE THE BASELINE AND CHANGES AGAIN ON JANUARY 1, 2027. Maine no longer lacks a serialization law. P.L. 2025, ch. 537 (LD 1126 / HP 745, 'An Act Requiring Serial Numbers on Firearms and Prohibiting Undetectable Firearms') became law WITHOUT the Governor's signature on January 11, 2026, and I read the chaptered text in full. It enacts a new 25 M.R.S. ch. 253-A ('Firearms Without Serial Numbers'). New section 2037(1) makes it unlawful to intentionally or knowingly possess, import into Maine, transfer or offer to transfer either an unfinished frame or receiver (paragraphs A and B) or any firearm, frame or receiver (paragraphs D and E) that is not imprinted with a serial number by a federal firearms licensee under federal law or new section 2039, and to purchase a serialized frame or receiver without a background check (paragraphs C and F). New section 2039(5) covers self-manufacture squarely: 'A person who manufactures a frame or receiver, including by a 3-dimensional printer or computer numerical control milling machine, shall cause the frame or receiver to be imprinted with a serial number by a federal firearms licensee pursuant to federal law and this section.' Section 2039(3) prescribes the serial format - the licensee's abbreviated federal firearms license number, a hyphen, then a unique identification number, marked at the minimum size and depth required by 27 C.F.R. 478.92 and not susceptible to being readily obliterated - and 2039(4) makes returning the marked item a transfer requiring a background check of the transferee. Exceptions in 2037(2) include a federal firearms licensee acting within the scope of its license, law enforcement, a transfer made for the purpose of having the item serialized, a person who has held the item unserialized for no more than 48 hours AND has an appointment with an FFL to have it serialized, antique firearms, curios and relics, permanently inoperable firearms, and any firearm manufactured before 1968. TIMING IS THE CRITICAL POINT: new section 2038 provides that 'Beginning January 1, 2027, the following provisions apply to violations of this chapter', and then sets the penalties - unlawful possession is a civil violation with a fine of not more than $50 for a first offense, a Class D crime for a second, and a Class C crime for a third or subsequent offense; unlawful importation, transfer, offer to transfer or purchase is a Class D crime for a first offense and a Class C crime thereafter; and using a firearm without a serial number while committing a Class A or Class B crime, or while committing reckless conduct under 17-A M.R.S. 211, is a Class C crime. So the prohibitions are enacted and the Act is already generally effective, but NO penalty attaches to a ch. 253-A violation before January 1, 2027. serialRequired is recorded as true because the statutory duty now exists and because a firearm built now and still unserialized on January 1, 2027 would then be a violation - anyone building a firearm in Maine today should plan on having an FFL serialize it. SEPARATELY, AND ALREADY PUNISHABLE: the same act enacted 17-A M.R.S. 1060, which bans manufacturing, causing to be manufactured, importing, offering or exposing for sale, selling or transferring an 'undetectable firearm' (Class C) and knowingly possessing one (Class D); that section carries NO deferred date and is enforceable now. The act also amended 25 M.R.S. 2016 so that the 72-hour waiting period's definition of 'firearm' now includes an unfinished frame or receiver. Maine still has no firearm registry: 25 M.R.S. 2014 bars any state agency or political subdivision from keeping a comprehensive registry of privately owned firearms and their owners, and 25 M.R.S. 2011 preempts municipal firearm regulation. FEDERAL LAW ALSO STILL APPLIES: a prohibited person may not manufacture or possess any firearm; manufacturing for sale or distribution requires an FFL (18 U.S.C. 922(a)(1)(A)); NFA items require ATF approval; the Undetectable Firearms Act and 18 U.S.C. 922(r) apply; and ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F treats certain readily completable commercially sold frames and receivers as firearms requiring serialization by the licensee. Self-manufacture for personal use remains lawful in Maine, but from January 1, 2027 it is lawful only if the product is serialized by a federal firearms licensee.

25 M.R.S. ch. 253-A (2036-2039), enacted by P.L. 2025, ch. 537 (LD 1126 / HP 745); 17-A M.R.S. 1060 (undetectable firearms), same act; see also 25 M.R.S. 2014 and 2011

Federal law, gunsmithing schools, and tools →

Statutes

What we could not confirm

  • training.liveFireRequired remains null. I read the complete text of 25 M.R.S. 2003(1)(E)(5), the whole Maine State Police Concealed Handguns Booklet and both current application packets today, and none of them mentions live fire, rounds fired, or any shooting qualification. Maine therefore imposes no live-fire mandate of its own; course content is left entirely to the certifying law enforcement agency or certified instructor, so an individual approved course may or may not include live fire. The field is null rather than false to capture that an applicant's actual course may require it, not because the state's own requirement is unknown.
  • training.hours is deliberately empty because Maine's statute prescribes no hour count at all, and individual approved courses set their own length. Do not report a specific hour figure for Maine.
  • The Maine State Police reciprocity page publishes no 'last updated' date, so I can confirm only that the 23-state list was retrieved live from the official page on 2026-09-15 and is identical to the 2026-08-10 baseline list. Because recognition under 25 M.R.S. 2001-A(2)(F) turns on whether each other state honors Maine resident permits, the set of qualifying states can change with no Maine statutory amendment and with no visible edit to this page.
  • instructorRegistryUrl is null, and I now treat this as settled rather than open: the 'List of Safety Programs' link that P.L. 2015 c. 327 requires the Department of Public Safety to publish resolves to the NRA instructor search at nrainstructors.org, an external non-state registry, and the official MSP FAQ tells applicants to find a course by asking a local firearms dealer or searching the internet. Maine publishes no state-maintained roster of certified instructors or approved courses.
  • Maine's 72-hour waiting period on firearm delivery (25 M.R.S. 2016, enacted by P.L. 2023, c. 678) IS IN FORCE TODAY, and the carry answers in this record are unaffected by it because it governs delivery after a purchase agreement rather than carrying. The history matters because it has been widely misreported: the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine (Walker, J.) preliminarily enjoined the law in February 2025; then on April 3, 2026 a unanimous panel of the First Circuit in Beckwith v. Frey, No. 25-1160, held that plaintiffs are 'unlikely to prevail on their claim that the Act is facially unconstitutional' and expressly 'vacate[d] the preliminary injunction enjoining the Act's enforcement and remand[ed] for further proceedings' - that order is what makes the statute enforceable now. A certiorari petition is pending at the Supreme Court as Beckwith v. Frey, No. 26-258, filed August 25, 2026 with a response due September 28, 2026; the docket shows no stay, so the waiting period remains enforceable while the petition is pending, and the merits remain open on remand. A 2026 repeal bill, LD 208, died between houses. Because this is live litigation, re-check the docket before relying on it.
  • The general effective date of P.L. 2025, ch. 537 is an inference rather than a quoted date, and it is the weakest link in the homeManufacture answer. The chaptered text contains no effective-date or emergency clause. The Act was finally enacted before the First Special Session adjourned on June 25, 2025, was held unsigned, and became law without the Governor's signature on January 11, 2026; the Legislature's own held-bills notice states that such laws take effect 90 days after the adjournment sine die of the session at which final disposition occurred, and the Second Regular Session digest states that session adjourned April 29, 2026 with a non-emergency effective date of July 29, 2026. I therefore read the Act as generally effective July 29, 2026. Nothing about the serialization duty turns on this, because new 25 M.R.S. 2038 independently and unambiguously defers all ch. 253-A penalties to January 1, 2027; it matters only for the undetectable-firearms ban at 17-A M.R.S. 1060, which has no deferral and which I therefore treat as already enforceable.
  • The new sections created by P.L. 2025, ch. 537 are NOT yet published on the Maine Legislature's statute website. I confirmed this by request: title25ch253-Asec0.html, title25sec2036.html and title17-Asec1060.html all return HTTP 404, and every statute page I did read carries the footer 'Data for this page extracted on 1/05/2026', six days before the Act became law. My ch. 253-A and 17-A 1060 analysis therefore rests on the chaptered session-law PDF and the Legislature's own enacted-law summary rather than on codified text, so the codified section numbering or wording could differ slightly once the Revisor publishes it.
  • Because the statute pages are a January 5, 2026 snapshot, any change made by the Second Regular Session (which adjourned April 29, 2026) would not appear in the text I read. I mitigated this by reading the official Legislative Digest for that session: the only enacted weapons measures were P.L. 537 (serial numbers, above), P.L. 545 (LD 2032, amending the extreme risk protection order procedure) and Resolve 123 (disposition of forfeited firearms), and the only enacted item listed under 'Firearms/Concealed Firearms' was P.L. 711 (LD 1187, mental health assessment data in firearm fatality reports). Nothing enacted amended 25 M.R.S. ch. 252, so the permit answers above stand. I did not read P.L. 545 in full, so the interaction between a new extreme risk protection order and permit eligibility or revocation is unverified.
  • The disqualifiers list is a plain-language summary rather than statutory text. The operative disqualifications are incorporated by reference through 25 M.R.S. 2003(1)(B), which points to 15 M.R.S. 393 and to federal prohibited-person law, and the 'good moral character' determination under 2003(4) is a separate discretionary ground resting on governmental records from the preceding 5 years. I did not read 15 M.R.S. 393 in full today, so treat the list as indicative and not as a complete or precisely worded set of disqualifications.
  • Location restrictions are summarized only in general terms. The Maine State Police page cites 17-A M.R.S. 1057, 1058 and 1059; 12 M.R.S. 1803, 756, 12707 and 11403; 20-A M.R.S. 6552; 25 M.R.S. 2904 and DPS Rule Chapter 41; 32 M.R.S. 9412(5); 26 M.R.S. 600; and 18 U.S.C. 930; plus Bureau of Parks and Lands Rules Chapter 1 and the Baxter State Park and Allagash Wilderness Waterway rules. I did not read each of those sections and rules individually.

Sources