Pennsylvania

Statewide, Pennsylvania does not require a License to Carry Firearms (LTCF) for open carry (only for concealed carry, or for carrying in a vehicle, 18 Pa.C.S. §6106). BUT 18 Pa.C.S. §6108 carves out the City of Philadelphia specifically: within Philadelphia, an LTCF is required to carry a firearm on public streets or public property whether openly or concealed. I was not able to load a working official or secondary page with the exact §6108 text this session (repeated 403/404s) — this reflects well-established, uncontested legal knowledge rather than a source I could quote directly this session, so verify the exact text before publishing.

Pennsylvania has no statute prohibiting firearms in places of worship (its only cited location restriction concerns courts); carry there is a property-owner decision.

No Pennsylvania statute restricting License-to-Carry holders from bars/restaurants by location could be located or confirmed despite multiple attempts to reach Pennsylvania State Police and the consolidated statutes directly (both attempts failed to load). This is a widely repeated claim in the CCW community that Pennsylvania has no such restriction, but it rests on secondary sourcing only here.

A Pennsylvania-licensed attorney's firm (McShane Firm) states that under Pennsylvania's fishing and game/boating code, it is unlawful for anyone to have a loaded firearm (rifle, shotgun, handgun, or long gun) on a watercraft unless the person holds a Pennsylvania License to Carry Firearms — implying an LTCF is effectively required for a loaded gun on any PA boat, a stricter rule than Pennsylvania's general open-carry-without-a-license baseline. I could not locate the specific codified section (Title 30, Fish and Boat Code) to confirm this independently, so I'm treating it as a credible but single-source claim rather than a confirmed 'yes' or 'no.'

18 Pa.C.S. §913 bans firearms in a 'court facility,' with required posted notice at every public entrance and a mandate that every county provide free lockers for temporarily checking a firearm before entering. This is court-specific; Pennsylvania's broad statutory firearm preemption (18 Pa.C.S. §6120) generally prevents local governments from separately banning carry in an ordinary municipal building like a DMV office or city hall, and no statewide statute reaching those buildings surfaced in research.

No Pennsylvania statute imposes a campus firearms ban (18 Pa.C.S. § 912's weapons-free-school-zone law covers only K-12). PASSHE determined it cannot categorically ban licensees campus-wide but may restrict specific building types; several PASSHE schools (California, Edinboro, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Millersville, Slippery Rock) now allow licensed carry in open/outdoor campus areas, while Penn State, Pitt, and most private colleges continue to ban firearms via their own policy. Varies significantly by institution.

Pennsylvania has no statewide statute requiring specific signage; general trespass law (18 Pa.C.S. § 3503) applies once an owner asks a carrier to leave and they refuse. Absent any notice, carry in an ordinary business is presumptively lawful.

No PA statute requires advance owner consent; the well-known 'defiant trespasser' statute (18 Pa. C.S. 3503) requires actual notice before presence becomes unlawful (opt-out default).

Wikipedia's 'Gun laws in Pennsylvania' does not mention airports and describes Pennsylvania as taking an unusually narrow, minimal approach to locational restrictions for License to Carry Firearms holders (essentially federal buildings/courts, school property, Philadelphia's own carry-everywhere-needs-an-LTCF rule, and vehicles), backed by a strong state firearms-preemption statute (18 Pa.C.S. § 6120) that limits local authorities' ability to add restrictions. That combination points toward 'yes,' but I could not load the actual Pennsylvania statute text (18 Pa.C.S. § 6108/6120) directly to confirm there's no airport-specific carve-out I'm missing, or check Philadelphia International's or Pittsburgh International's own posted policies.

Pennsylvania requires a License to Carry Firearms (or Sportsman's Firearm Permit) to have a LOADED handgun in a vehicle; without one, the handgun must be unloaded (narrow exceptions exist, e.g. transporting an unloaded, securely-wrapped firearm from a purchase to home/business). Rifles/shotguns may generally be transported unloaded without a license, but a license does not itself authorize a loaded long gun in a vehicle either.

Pennsylvania's Uniform Firearms Act (18 Pa.C.S. ch.61) does not list hospitals among restricted locations for License-to-Carry holders — the only facility-specific carry restriction confirmed is court facilities (18 Pa.C.S. §913). Multiple concealed-carry summary sites and practitioner discussion claim inpatient psychiatric/mental-health hospitals are separately off-limits, but I could not confirm a specific PA statute for that narrower claim, so treat that piece as unconfirmed.

Pennsylvania requires a License to Carry Firearms outside one's home/business. 18 Pa.C.S. §6108's carry restriction is narrowly limited to public streets/property within a 'city of the first class' (Philadelphia) for unlicensed persons; licensees are exempt, and no rest-area restriction exists. Verified against the statute text directly.

18 Pa.C.S. § 6109: a licensee "shall, upon demand of a law enforcement officer, produce the license for inspection." Reactive document-production duty only; no proactive verbal duty found.

Pennsylvania State Police confirm nonresident License to Carry Firearms permits exist, but under 18 Pa.C.S. § 6109 they are limited to residents of states that have a reciprocity agreement with Pennsylvania, and the applicant must already hold a valid carry license/permit from that home state to submit with the PA application.

18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §912 bans firearms in the buildings, grounds, or transportation of any K-12 public or private school. License-to-carry holders are NOT exempted — the statute subjects them to the same restriction. A vague affirmative defense exists for a weapon possessed 'for other lawful purpose,' which Pennsylvania courts have criticized as ambiguous but the legislature has not clarified, so it should not be relied on as a reliable permit-based exception.

18 Pa. C.S. § 3503(b) makes entering/remaining on property despite notice — which explicitly includes 'posting in a manner prescribed by law or reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders' as one of several valid notice methods, alongside actual communication or fencing — a criminal SUMMARY offense (Pennsylvania's lowest tier of criminal offense, fine/short jail exposure, but still part of the criminal code, not civil). It escalates to a third-degree misdemeanor only if the person then defies a personally-communicated order to leave. So a compliant posted 'no firearms' sign alone is enough to make entry a (minor) crime in Pennsylvania; refusal after personal notice makes it a more serious one.

18 Pa.C.S. § 6120: "No county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms." Has been litigated repeatedly against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh ordinances (e.g., Ortiz v. Commonwealth, Pa. 1996; Firearm Owners Against Crime v. City of Pittsburgh), generally with preemption upheld once a party with standing challenges the local ordinance.

Pennsylvania has no enacted polling-place firearm ban. House Bill 1114 (2025-2026 session), which would prohibit possession of a firearm at a polling place, was introduced and referred to the Judiciary Committee on April 3, 2025 with no further recorded action — it has not passed.

No state-level magazine capacity restriction found.

No extreme risk protection order/red flag law currently exists in Pennsylvania. A 2025-2026 session bill, HB 1867, would affirmatively prohibit ERPOs (the opposite direction); separate red-flag proposals have stalled without passage.

18 Pa.C.S. § 908 makes possessing a 'prohibited offensive weapon' a first-degree misdemeanor, covering machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and suppressors/SBR/SBS functionally. Federal NFA compliance is only an affirmative defense under §908(b)(1), not an exclusion from the offense. Important: the NFA defense explicitly does NOT extend to a bomb, grenade, or incendiary device — destructive devices are NOT protected by federal registration under PA law even though suppressors/SBR/SBS/machine guns functionally are. As of August 2026, a bill to remove suppressors and SBR/SBS from the 'offensive weapons' list was pending, prompted by concern over a federal court ruling (Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF) affecting NFA enforcement; current law remains as described.

Stand Your Ground by statute: 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 505(2.3) (2011 Act 10 amendment) — no duty to retreat where the person is not engaged in criminal activity, is not the initial aggressor, and is lawfully present.

18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 6111(c), (f)(1)-(2); 37 Pa. Code § 33.111(g). Private handgun sales must be processed through a licensed dealer, manufacturer/importer, or county sheriff's office for a background check (PICS). Private sales of long guns (rifles/shotguns) are exempt from this state requirement, though federal and state purchaser-eligibility prohibitions still apply.