Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf
Page Number: 11.0

Cite as:  597 U. S. ____ (2022) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

States and the District of Columbia have “may issue” licens-
ing laws, under which authorities have discretion to deny 
concealed-carry licenses even when the applicant satisfies 
the statutory criteria, usually because the applicant has not 
demonstrated cause or suitability for the relevant license. 
Aside from New York, then, only California, the District of 
Columbia,  Hawaii,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  and  New 

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704.5  (2022);  Va.  Code  Ann.  §18.2–308.04  (2021);  Wash.  Rev.  Code 
§9.41.070 (2021); W. Va. Code Ann. §61–7–4 (2021); Wis. Stat. §175.60 
(2021);  Wyo.  Stat.  Ann.  §6–8–104  (2021).    Vermont  has  no  permitting 
system for the concealed carry of handguns.  Three States—Connecticut, 
Delaware, and Rhode Island—have discretionary criteria but appear to 
operate like “shall issue” jurisdictions.  See Conn. Gen. Stat. §29–28(b) 
(2021);  Del.  Code,  Tit.  11,  §1441  (2022);  R. I.  Gen.  Laws  §11–47–11 
(2002).    Although  Connecticut  officials  have  discretion  to  deny  a 
concealed-carry  permit  to  anyone  who  is  not  a  “suitable  person,”  see 
Conn.  Gen.  Stat.  §29–28(b),  the  “suitable  person”  standard  precludes 
permits only to those “individuals whose conduct has shown them to be 
lacking the essential character of temperament necessary to be entrusted
with a weapon.”  Dwyer v. Farrell, 193 Conn. 7, 12, 475 A. 2d 257, 260 
(1984) (internal quotation marks omitted).  As for Delaware, the State 
has thus far processed 5,680 license applications and renewals in fiscal
year 2022 and has denied only 112.  See Del. Courts, Super. Ct., Carrying
Concealed  Deadly  Weapon  (June  9,  2022),  https://courts.delaware.gov/
forms/download.aspx?ID=125408.  Moreover, Delaware appears to have 
no  licensing  requirement  for  open  carry.    Finally,  Rhode  Island  has  a 
suitability requirement, see R. I. Gen. Laws §11–47–11, but the Rhode 
Island  Supreme  Court  has flatly  denied  that  the  “[d]emonstration  of  a 
proper showing of need” is a component of that requirement.  Gadomski 
v. Tavares, 113 A. 3d 387, 392 (2015).  Additionally, some “shall issue” 
jurisdictions have so-called “constitutional carry” protections that allow
certain individuals to carry handguns in public within the State without 
any permit whatsoever.  See, e.g., A. Sherman, More States Remove Per-
mit  Requirement  To  Carry  a  Concealed Gun, PolitiFact  (Apr.  12,  2022),
https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/apr/12/more-states-remove-per-
mit-requirement-carry-concea/  (“Twenty-five  states  now  have  permitless 
concealed carry laws . . . The states that have approved permitless carry 
laws  are:  Alabama,  Alaska,  Arizona,  Arkansas,  Idaho,  Indiana,  Iowa, 
Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New
Hampshire,  North  Dakota,  Ohio,  Oklahoma,  South  Dakota,  Tennessee, 
Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming”).