Open Carry in New Mexico

Allowed without a license. DPS: 'New Mexico is an Open Carry State, meaning it is legal to carry a loaded weapon as long as it is not concealed.' DPS lists places where a handgun may not be carried 'openly or concealed', including schools, university premises, preschools, courts, tribal land (unless authorized), public buses, airport security zones, federal property, and posted private property. Under state law, a person under nineteen may not possess a handgun except in listed situations (§ 30-7-2.2; see buying age).

DPS: 'New Mexico law allows a person who is not otherwise prohibited to have a concealed loaded firearm in his/her vehicle (including motorcycles and bicycles).' Without a license (New Mexico or recognized state), the person 'may not have the weapon concealed on your person' after leaving the vehicle. The one-concealed-handgun limit for licensees 'does not apply to firearms carried in your vehicles'. Persons over 19 may keep a firearm in a vehicle on school and university premises (DPS). Statute: the concealed-carry offense does not apply to carrying 'in a private automobile or other private means of conveyance, for lawful protection of the person's or another's person or property' (§ 30-7-2(A)(2)); on school and university premises the vehicle exception is limited to 'a person older than nineteen years of age' (§§ 30-7-2.1(A)(5), 30-7-2.4(A)(5)).

DPS lists places where a handgun may NOT be carried, 'openly or concealed': schools (except in a vehicle if older than 19; § 30-7-2.1, fourth degree felony); university premises (except in a vehicle if older than 19; § 30-7-2.4); preschools (§ 29-19-8); courts, without the presiding judge's consent (§ 29-19-11); tribal land unless authorized by the tribe or pueblo (§ 29-19-10); public buses (§ 30-7-13); airport security zones; federal property; and private property posted against carrying or where the owner says no. Licensees may not carry in establishments licensed to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption, except restaurants licensed only for beer and wine that derive at least 60% of gross receipts from food and are not posted (§ 30-7-3). Since 2024, possessing a firearm within 100 feet of a polling-place voter entrance during early voting or on election day, or within 50 feet of a monitored ballot drop box from 28 days before an election, is a petty misdemeanor, except for people in private vehicles and concealed handgun licensees carrying concealed.