Open Carry in Maine

Maine's weapons statute prohibits concealed carry without a permit or exception and the display of a weapon in a threatening manner; it does not require a permit to carry a handgun openly. Place restrictions apply regardless of how the gun is carried, such as public school property, courthouses, and licensed bars posted to prohibit firearms.

Maine generally prohibits having a loaded firearm in or on a motor vehicle (a firearm with a cartridge in the chamber or an attached magazine, clip or cylinder). Exception: a person 21 or older who may lawfully possess a firearm, or a person 18 to 20 on active military/National Guard duty or an honorably discharged veteran, may have a loaded pistol or revolver in or on a vehicle. Long guns must be unloaded in a vehicle. The hunting-license exception to the concealed-carry ban does not allow carrying a concealed or loaded firearm in a motor vehicle.

Firearms may not be possessed on public school property or the property of an approved private school (limited exceptions, such as an unloaded firearm in a locked vehicle at a school-authorized hunter's breakfast). Unauthorized possession of a firearm in a courthouse, and in a correctional facility or jail, is a crime. Possessing a firearm in a licensed bar or restaurant serving alcohol for on-premises consumption is a crime if the premises is posted to prohibit firearms, or if the person is under the influence; a concealed-carry permit is not a defense.