what are the gun laws in Indiana? Can you get a CCW permit? What can you hunt with a rifle? Just thinking about moving.

Karl

Come on down!

The first thing which you might find a little shocking is the fact you MUST have a [b]pistol permit[/b] to even [b]own[/b] a pistol in the state.  Well, almost.  You can legally own a pistol on private property but you can not legally transport a pistol in Indiana without a valid permit.  That means no taking it to the range, putting it in your car, nothing... without a pistol permit.

There are two types of permits in Indiana.  A standard permit and a personal protection permit.  I think the standard permit is $5 cheaper, but I'm not certain as I've never had one.  They both require the same paperwork and background check.  Basically you fill out some paperwork at the local police station.  They do a quick local background check and then you take that and mail it down state and the state will issue your pistol permit.  The permit is a joke... it's a little pink card (paper) that has no picture or finger print on it.  Just your name, address, some text and that's it.

Once you have a pistol permit there is NOTHING any city in the state can do to hamper your pistol carrying.  You can carry openly, concealed, or... as my local police chief once said, "I don't care if you strap it to your forehead".

We can own machineguns.  In Indiana machineguns are considered pistols... all machineguns.  So, with a valid pistol permit you can legally carry a MP5K concealed (I've done this a couple of times for kicks) or a shortened M16 under a trenchcoat.  [:)]

Some cities like Gary don't like to have their citizens running around with guns.  So they make it hard to get a permit.  If your local police department denies you a permit, you can demand to have the completed paperwork along with their written reason for not approving you which you can then send to the state.  99.99% of the time, unless you're a felon, the state will issue your permit, over riding the authority of your local government.  

Great state and very gun friendly.  No training courses for a permit... no silly rules about keeping the gun concealed.  If your coat blows open and someone sees your gun, tough shit.  They can't have you arrested and you can't lose your permit.  If a business doesn't want people carrying firearms, they can post it.  Even if it's posted you can still carry in there.  If you're caught, all they can do is ask you to leave.  You won't lose your permit.

You [b]can[/b] carry in bars or places that sell liquor.  You [b]can't[/b] carry into court houses, casinos, or federal buildings/parks.

That's about it.

If you move to the northwest part of the state, let me know.  As of Jan. 2000 machineguns were banned from state ranges.  I have a private range where we shoot machineguns all the time and you're invited to join me.

GUN LAWS IN INDIANA ARE GREAT.YOU CAN GET A PERMIT TO CARRY FOR HUNTING OR PERSONAL PROTECTION OR BOTH.UNFORTUNATELY YOU CANNOT HUNT DEER WITH A RIFLE BUT YOU CAN SHOOT COYOTE OR FOX WITH ANY CALIBER RIFLE AND ANY SIZE CLIP CONFIGURATION YOU WANT.

One of the drawbacks of Indiana's liberal CCW law is that so few states offer reciprocity.  I think only the neighboring states of Michigan and Kentucky allow Hoosiers to carry concealed.

Check out the following web site:

[url]www.packing.org[/url]

The following link takes you to a "disclaimer page", that basically say's that you are responsible to verify the facts and you need to hit the "I agree" (obviously a CYA) and it takes you to another page. Near the bottom of the page is the list of states that DO/DON'T accept IN CCW.

[url]www.packing.org/state/index.jsp/indiana/[/url]

Hopes this clears things up for you. [:)]

BTW, most "State Police Dept." web sites will have some sort of info about CCW

wgunn, what part of NW Indiana do you live in, we might be neighbors!  I live in Porter county, we will leave it at that for now.

To my understanding, if the state you are going to, or through has a CCW, they accept the Indiana permit as valid.

I think that the carry issue has to do with reprocity(bad spelling) of both states. They both have to recognize each others carry permits.
One more thing about hunting: you can't hunt deer with rifles, but handguns are a go.
Funny: I can use my XP-100 in .35 Rem but try to use a rifle and its a big no-no.
Some of the handguns I've seen used for deer season could stop elephants.

I live in Porter county as well.  [:)]

 We (Indiana)  have some of the best , most NON restrictive gun laws in the country .
 Very easy to get a handgun permit and NO nics check on firearms purchases once you have your CCW .

Also we do not have to do any of that Spring
Forward .,, Fall back crap .  NO daylight savings time here . 9:30 is always 9:30 ,
not 10;00 , or 11:00 or 8:30 or any crap like that .  I love it here .