How Gun-Friendly Is Your State?
Well, this is an interesting question. It’s not our usual Sunday Gun Day fare, I know, but there’s not much point in talking about cool old guns, gun history, Tacticool, or anything else gun-central or gun-adjacent if our local and state governments are working to take those guns away from us.
Of course, this is one of the wonderful things about federalism. Most of these laws are made at the state level, and if your state vexes you, you can always find another. This applies not only to gun laws but to any law, regulation, or policy, and that’s fine. Annoyed with your state? There are 49 more to choose from, and people are already doing that – see California, New York, and Illinois. People are leaving in droves, and it's not all just about guns.
So, if it’s a gun-friendly state you’re looking for, how do you go about it? Well, the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) has some thoughts on that. They produce an annual State Freedom Index, rating the states on how personable they are to gun owners. Let’s take a look at the recently released 2026 FPC State Freedom Index and see what we see.
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The Criteria
Here’s what the FPC is aiming to do with this project:
The FPC Freedom Index is the clear, principled, and objective approach to state rankings for the Second Amendment that gun owners and policymakers deserve—and need. The goals of the FPC Freedom Index are simple:
- Give gun owners and policymakers a simple but objective view into some of the most important areas of regulation.
- Encourage state representatives to do what’s needed to achieve a perfect grade (and beat their neighboring states in a friendly competition that promotes freedom)
The FPC Freedom Index helps you navigate the reality about your state’s gun control regulations—and most importantly, helps you zero in on gun control laws that should be repealed.
The criteria are based on a list of questions; on the map, you can click on your state to find out where you score.
The Scores
States are scored on their overall counts in the list of questions, and are ranked accordingly:
A state with a 100 percent score is a “Chad State.” There are only two “Chad States,” those being New Hampshire and Kansas.
From 85 to 99 percent, a state is a “Freeish State.” My own Alaska falls here.
From 70 to 84 percent, you are in a “State of Confusion.” I’m looking at you, Minnesota – and surprisingly, Florida.
Below 70 percent? You’re in a State of Disaster, and casting your optics over the map reveals the usual suspects: Washington, California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and much of New England.
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Alaska, Alaska, we need to talk. The Great Land comes in at 95.45 percent, with a “yes” on only one question:
Does the State impose an age-based ban on the ability of 18-to-20-year-old adults to acquire a license or permit to carry handguns in public for self-defense?
Other than that, we’re pretty solid. And, yes, this is a dumb law, but then, so is the federal restriction on adults from 18 to 21 buying handguns in the first place. Are they adults, or are they not? They can join the military and may be assigned to a position where they carry a sidearm or a machine gun. They can sign contracts. They can get married. They can get a tattoo. But they can’t buy a bottle of booze or carry a handgun. We can’t fix the federal law so easily, but we could fix the state-level issue.
Still, all in all, I’ll take 95.45 percent. Colorado, where I lived for so many years, is a “State of Disaster” at 63.64 percent, and it’s likely to get worse. It wasn’t like that when I lived there, but the times, they are a’changing. Now, my old home state of Iowa, they match Alaska’s 95.45 percent rating, the one question they missed being this:
Does the State prohibit or restrict the purchase, possession, or transfer of a Machine Gun (automatic firearm) that is otherwise compliant with federal law (e.g., NFA registration)?
A plain reading of the Second Amendment would seem to preclude that, but we can’t count on plain readings of anything in the Constitution so much these days.
Take a look at your state. Feel free to post your findings and remarks in the comments section.
Some Final Thoughts
Why does all this matter?
Look, I’m a Second Amendment absolutist. What does that mean? That means the Second Amendment means precisely what it says, right down to the “…shall not be infringed” part. Especially to the “…shall not be infringed” part. The Second Amendment should be the only argument we need to turn the FPC’s map completely to dark yellow “Chad States,” but that’s not the reality we live in. This, above all of our constitutionally defined rights, is one we have to constantly fight for.
Now, I have used practical, utilitarian arguments myself in arguing against various lawmakers, city, state, and federal, wasting their time and my money with gun control laws. Such laws have been largely ineffective at reducing crime rates or preventing mass-casualty situations. In the United States, the opposite has been shown, as gun ownership and concealed carry are at all-time highs, while the violent crime rate has dropped, and remains today more of a problem in blue, gun-restricting areas, and not so much out in the gun-friendly hinterlands.
The Second Amendment, which very plainly puts forth the intent of the Founders, should be all the argument we need. But this argument, and its comparison to the First Amendment, has one flaw: There are those among the Left who don’t care much for the First Amendment, either. Take a look at the various “hate speech” proposals, or just take a gander at any left-wing protest and note the “hate speech is not free speech” placards.
We are in a time when basic freedoms and basic rights are very much under attack. I’m afraid it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
The first step in any journey involves knowing where you are starting from – and knowing where you are going. Informational tools like the FPC’s map, while interesting, also give us key knowledge on where we are in the fight to keep our Second Amendment rights, and where we need to plan to go next.
And if we keep fighting the good fight, One day, I may yet be able to walk into a gun store and walk out with a Thompson submachine gun - as the Second Amendment indicates I should be able to do.
