One from each tier — the easy case, the trap, and the hard stop.
TXTexasTravel-friendly
Carry rule
Permitless 21+; LTC available from 18, incl. non-resident
Your permit
Every valid out-of-state licence, under SB 706 effective 1 Sept 2025.
Tell police?
No duty to volunteer. Carrying without a licence, there's no gun document to show, but never give an officer a false name. If you carry on a handgun licence and an officer or magistrate demands identification, show both your driver's licence or ID and your handgun licence.
Watch this. Texas replaced its old patchwork of agreements with blanket recognition of any valid out-of-state handgun licence — a change that only helps a traveler who actually carries a permit. The two ages differ: the statute sets 21 for carrying without a licence, but the licence itself is open at 18 following a 2022 federal ruling, after which DPS stopped refusing 18-to-20-year-old applicants. Texas also issues a non-resident licence to carry to legal residents of other states. The required training must be done in Texas. You file with a copy of your out-of-state driver's licence or state ID.
COColoradoRecognized, with a catch
Carry rule
Permit required, 21+ (shall-issue by sheriff)
Your permit
Resident permits only, from approved states, holder 21+.
Tell police?
No duty to volunteer. Carry the permit with photo ID and produce both if an officer asks.
Watch this. Resident-only, 21-plus, from an approved state. A Utah or Florida non-resident permit doesn't work here — only the resident version of the same permit does, Colorado issues that to its own residents, the holder must be 21 or older, and the issuing state must be on the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's list of approved states. Two openings are worth knowing. Armed-forces members stationed in Colorado on permanent duty orders count as legal residents, and so does their immediate family if they live in Colorado. A Colorado resident aged 18 to 20 whom the sheriff believes may be in immediate danger can be given a temporary emergency permit, renewable in 90-day blocks until they turn 21. Whatever permit a visitor holds, selling, transferring or having a magazine that holds more than 15 rounds is a crime (C.R.S. 18-12-301, 18-12-302). The only exception a traveller could use is a magazine you've owned since 1 July 2013 and kept ever since. A 15-round magazine is legal; a 17-round one is not.
NYNew YorkDo not carry
Carry rule
Licence required, 21+; county licensing officer
Tell police?
No duty to volunteer. Keep the licence on you while carrying, and show it if an officer asks.
Hard stop. New York recognizes no outside permit, and New York City adds its own layer. A New York licence from outside the city isn't valid in it without a special permit from the city’s police commissioner (Penal Law 400.00(6)), and having a handgun, rifle or shotgun in the city needs a licence or permit from the NYPD License Division (nyc.gov/site/nypd/services/law-enforcement/permits-licenses-firearms.page). For a visitor that changes nothing below: don't carry, and drive straight through. New York State’s sensitive locations are places where carry is banned even with a licence, such as government buildings, places of worship, parks, public transport, bars, theatres and stadiums, and Times Square (Penal Law 265.01-e, www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/265.01-E). Don't carry in New York. The only route is to drive straight through under federal safe passage: the firearm unloaded, and neither it nor its ammunition reachable from the passenger area (18 U.S.C. 926A). Whatever licence a visitor holds, having a magazine that holds, or can readily be converted to hold, more than 10 rounds is a felony, and so is having an assault weapon. For a handgun, that means a semi-automatic pistol that takes a detachable magazine and has at least one listed feature, such as a threaded barrel or a magazine that fits outside the grip (Penal Law 265.00(22), (23), 265.02(7), (8)). New York’s own law names no exception for a traveller. Federal safe passage is about the firearm itself — don't count on it to cover a banned magazine. There's no general non-resident licence, but someone who is principally employed in New York, or has a principal place of business there as a merchant or storekeeper, may apply to that city or county’s licensing officer, who must find good moral character. The age is 21, waived only for an applicant honorably discharged from the US Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force or Coast Guard, or the New York National Guard, and there's no lawful carry route below the licence.