Carry & reciprocity
Allows permitless (constitutional) carry for qualifying residents and, per its own rules below, often visitors too.
Minimum carry age: 21 (hard floor, no exceptions)
AS 18.65.748: a person holding a valid concealed handgun permit from another state or a political subdivision of another state is an Alaska permittee — all states, no resident-of-issuing-state rule. Alaska DPS: 'Alaska's laws do not prohibit anyone 21 or older who may legally possess a firearm from carrying it concealed or open. A firearms permit is not required.' So a visitor needs no permit at all. Critical: DPS states permits issued to 18-20 year olds are NOT honored — 'a person under 21 is NOT allowed to carry a concealed handgun in Alaska,' with no profession-based exception.
AK official source →Reciprocity status reviewed August 2026.
Tap any answer to jump to its full write-up and source, below.
23 specific questions, each with its own answer and, where one was found, a real source.
Reviewed September 2026. First-pass research: sourced per answer below, not yet independently re-verified line by line.
Alaska has never required any permit to carry a handgun openly. AS 11.61.220 lists only narrow locational bans; the state's own DPS guidance says a firearms permit is not required to carry concealed OR openly for anyone 21+ who can legally possess. Long-standing law.
Source (2026-09-01) →AS 11.61.220's prohibited-place list (courts, child care centers, DV shelters, etc.) does not include churches. No church-specific statute exists; carry is governed by ordinary property-owner discretion.
Source (2026-09-01) →AS 11.61.220(a)(2) makes it a crime to carry a loaded firearm in a place licensed to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption, but AS 11.61.220(d)(1) (cross-referencing AS 04.16.049) creates an affirmative defense for a person in a bona fide restaurant who has not consumed alcohol. So carry is allowed in a restaurant if you don't drink; true bars remain off-limits, and carrying while intoxicated is always illegal.
Source (2026-09-01) →Alaska permits carry (concealed or open) statewide without any permit for anyone 21+ who may lawfully possess a firearm (AS 18.65.700 et seq.; DPS: 'a firearms permit is not required'). No boat/vessel-specific restriction was found in Alaska statute or DPS guidance. The one hard limit DPS flags is age — permits issued to 18-20 year-olds are not honored anywhere in the state, boats included.
Source (2026-09-01) →AS 11.61.220 prohibits firearms in 'a courtroom or office of the Alaska Court System, or a courthouse that is occupied only by the Alaska Court System and other justice-related agencies.' Alaska's list of restricted places (this section) otherwise covers only child-care centers and DV/sexual-assault shelters — a DMV office or city hall is not listed, so carry there is allowed for anyone 21+ (Alaska is permitless-carry).
Source (2026-09-01) →No Alaska statute on point. University of Alaska Board of Regents Policy 02.09 bans firearms in campus buildings system-wide (dorm storage in a supervised storeroom only); private schools set their own policy. Depends on institutional policy, uniformly restrictive today.
Source (2026-09-01) →Alaska is a permissive, permitless-carry state with no statewide statute mandating business signage. Property owners may exclude carriers by request/notice (AS 11.46.330 trespass once asked to leave); absent notice, carry in an ordinary business is presumptively lawful.
Source (2026-09-01) →No AK statute conditions carry on a private-property owner's advance consent; unlawful presence requires actual notice under the criminal trespass statute (opt-out default).
Source (2026-09-01) →Alaska's concealed-carry law is unusually permissive and its listed prohibited places (per usacarry.com) are narrow and specific: courthouses, school grounds, bars, and domestic-violence shelters — airports are not on that list, and AK DPS's own consumer-facing guidance (dps.alaska.gov) describes carry as generally permitted statewide for anyone 21+ without a permit at all. That is a fairly strong signal for 'yes,' but no source I found addresses airports specifically, so I'm not treating it as confirmed. Ted Stevens Anchorage Intl is a state-owned facility, which would tend to follow state law rather than impose a separate local ban.
Source (2026-09-01) →Alaska has been a permitless-carry state since 2003 (AS 18.65.700 et seq.); AS 18.65.775 covers vehicle transport with no license needed for anyone 21+ who can lawfully possess a firearm. No loaded/unloaded distinction is imposed for ordinary vehicle carry.
Source (2003-01-01) →No Alaska statute prohibits firearms in hospitals (public or private); administrative/facility policy could still restrict entry via trespass, not a gun-specific crime.
Source (2026-09-01) →Alaska is constitutional-carry; state law bars any government or employer policy 'that prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm while that individual is within a motor vehicle' (AS 18.65.778). No rest-area carve-out found. Sourced via NRA-ILA quoting the Alaska Statutes.
Source (2026-09-01) →AS 11.61.220(a)(1)(A): a person 21+ knowingly carrying a concealed deadly weapon who, "when contacted by a peace officer," fails to "immediately inform the peace officer of that possession" or allow the officer to secure it, commits misconduct involving weapons in the 5th degree. Proactive duty triggered by mere contact, not by being asked. Eff. 1/1/2024 (ch.8 sec.152).
Source (2024-01-01) →Alaska Dept. of Public Safety: "The Alaska Concealed Handgun Permit (ACHP) is only available to Alaska residents." Alaska is permitless-carry for visitors, but the state permit itself is resident-only.
Source (2026-09-01) →Alaska bans knowing possession of a firearm, open or concealed, at any preschool through secondary school without administrator permission (AS 11.61.210(a)(8)), and a separate statute expressly states concealed handgun permit holders get NO exception to carry concealed in these locations (AS 18.65.755). This is one of the clearest 'no' cases in the country — even a licensed permit holder is barred on actual school grounds.
Source (2026-09-01) →Alaska's general criminal trespass statute (AS 11.46.320/330) was fetched but the excerpt available did not define what counts as adequate notice (personal communication vs. posted signage) for a business context, and Alaska has no firearm-specific signage statute that I could locate. Genuinely could not confirm a state-specific answer.
Source (2026-09-01) →AS 29.35.145(a): firearm regulation "is reserved to the state," and a municipality "may not restrict the carrying of a concealed handgun by permit." Narrow local exceptions only for discharge, business zoning, and restricted areas of municipal buildings.
Source (2026-09-01) →No Alaska statute prohibits firearms at polling places; general carry law (permitless carry statewide) does not list polls as restricted. Based on absence of a specific statute (no counter-evidence found in research) and MAP corroboration.
Source (2025-12-19) →No state-level magazine capacity restriction found.
Source (2026-09-01) →No extreme risk protection order or red flag statute found in Alaska.
Source (2026-09-01) →Alaska's 'prohibited weapon' statute (AS 11.61.200) technically lists silencers, machine guns, and SBR/SBS as prohibited weapons, but AS 11.61.200(c) makes NFA registration (26 U.S.C. §§5801-5872) a complete affirmative defense to prosecution — functionally no added state permit or paperwork is needed for any NFA category, including pre-1986 machine guns, once federally registered. A pending 2026 bill (Alaska Firearms Freedom Act) would remove these items from the 'prohibited weapon' definition outright, but the affirmative-defense structure is the operative law as of this research.
Source (2026-09-01) →Stand Your Ground by statute: Alaska Stat. §§ 11.81.335(b)(5); 11.81.350(f) — no duty to retreat anywhere lawfully present.
Source (2026-09-01) →No Alaska statute requires a background check on private firearm sales; federal law's FFL-only requirement is all that applies. Confirmed via absence from Giffords' universal-background-check state list; no relevant 2024-2026 legislation identified.
Source (2026-09-01) →This is information, not legal advice, and it can be wrong or out of date — carry law changes without notice and varies by locality in ways a single page can't fully capture. Verify anything load-bearing against the official source linked above and each answer's own citation before you rely on it.