Can You Carry a Concealed Firearm on Public Transit? City-by-City Breakdown

Carry daily and ride a bus, subway, or commuter rail? Then you’ve probably asked whether concealed carry on public transit is legal, and found conflicting answers. That’s not you missing something. Transit carry is one of the messiest areas of concealed carry law, because the rule that applies isn’t always the one you’d expect.

For most places, “check state law” gets you most of the way there. Transit is different, because systems often answer to another authority entirely. That might be a regional transit agency or a separate state statute. Or it might be whichever city or state the train is passing through at that moment.

Why transit is its own legal category

Most local carry restrictions trace back to state law or city ordinance. (Our guide to concealed carry laws by city explains how those two layers interact.) Transit complicates that picture. Many systems are run by regional or multi-state authorities that don’t map cleanly onto either category. Three patterns show up again and again:

• The system defers entirely to state or local law. It has no rule of its own, so legality depends on whatever jurisdiction the train is in right now.
• The system is named in state statute as a no-carry zone. That applies regardless of what would otherwise be legal at that location.
• A regional authority has no firearms policy of its own. It defers to whichever jurisdiction’s law applies along that stretch of the route.

What to check before you carry on transit

1. Is the system state-run, city-run, or a multi-jurisdiction authority?
2. Is the system named specifically in state statute, or does it default to “follow local law”?
3. Does the route cross jurisdiction lines, and does legal status change mid-route?
4. Are buses and subway/rail treated differently within the same system?
5. Is there posted signage, and does it carry actual legal weight in your state?

City-by-city snapshot

Here’s how the major systems handle it.

Maryland: MTA bus, Light Rail, Metro Subway and MARC

Transportation Article § 7-705(b)(6) bans carrying or possessing “concealed weapons” on Maryland Transit Administration property. That covers any transit vehicle or boarding facility the MTA owns or controls, including MARC trains run under MTA contract.

The statute has no exception for permit holders, so a Maryland Wear and Carry Permit doesn’t change it. The Fourth Circuit upheld Maryland’s mass transit restriction in Kipke v. Moore (January 2026). A violation is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500. Local details are in our Baltimore carry guide.

Washington, DC: WMATA and DC Metro

DC Code § 7-2509.07 explicitly prohibits carrying a licensed pistol on any “public transportation vehicle.” The statute defines that term to include DC Circulator buses, DC Streetcar, MetroAccess vehicles, Metrobus, and Metrorail trains by name. The prohibition is at § 7-2509.07(a)(6), with the definition at (g)(3). Violations carry a fine or up to 180 days.

The ban is also under active litigation. Four license holders sued the District in 2022 in Angelo v. District of Columbia, arguing Metro shouldn’t count as a sensitive place. The district court never reached that question. It dismissed the case for lack of standing.

On July 7, 2026, the D.C. Circuit reversed that dismissal and sent the case back. It held the plaintiffs had shown a real injury in the added cost of avoiding transit. The ban remains in force and enforceable today. But its constitutionality hasn’t been decided on the merits, and the case is live again. More in our Washington, DC carry guide.

Chicago: CTA and Metra

Illinois law (430 ILCS 66/65(a)(8)) bars licensees from carrying on any bus or train paid for even partly with public funds. That covers CTA and Metra. Note the statutory exception: the ban doesn’t reach a firearm that is unloaded and stored in a case. So transporting is treated differently from carrying.

In 2024, a federal district judge ruled the ban unconstitutional as applied to the named plaintiffs. The Seventh Circuit reversed in Schoenthal v. Raoul on September 2, 2025. It called the restriction comfortably situated in a long practice of limiting firearms in crowded, confined places. The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in April 2026, so the ban is settled law in Illinois. More in our Chicago carry guide.

Philadelphia: SEPTA

No Pennsylvania statute bans licensed carry on public transit, and state preemption limits what a transit agency can do about it. So carrying with a valid license on SEPTA buses, trolleys and trains is legal. Ride into New Jersey or hop on Amtrak, though, and the rules change. Details in our Philadelphia carry guide.

Atlanta: MARTA

Georgia’s prohibited-places law doesn’t list public transit, and state preemption keeps the city from adding it, so lawful carry on MARTA trains and buses is legal under state law. The one trap: the airport station feeds straight into Hartsfield-Jackson, and the secure side of the checkpoint is off-limits. More in our Atlanta carry guide.

Houston: METRO

Public transit isn’t on Texas’ list of prohibited places, and state law bars government agencies from posting signs that ban license holders where state law allows carry. That makes carry on METRO buses and light rail legal under state law. See our Houston carry guide for the rest of the city’s rules.

Los Angeles: Metro

This is the least settled city on the list. California’s rule against CCW holders carrying on public transit has been tied up in court, so whether it’s enforceable can change with the next ruling. Check where it stands in our Los Angeles carry guide before you ride.

What actually happens if you’re carrying somewhere transit prohibits it

• Best case: you’re asked to leave or secure the firearm off-property. That’s more likely where the prohibition is closer to policy than statute.
• More serious case: citation or misdemeanor charges, common where the prohibition is written into general trespass or weapons-carry law.
• Worst case: felony charges. That’s the explicit reality in states like New York, where transit is a named sensitive location with felony-level enforcement.

FAQ

Is carrying on Amtrak legal? Amtrak is a common carrier with its own federal rules, separate from local transit authorities. Generally, firearms are allowed only in checked baggage with advance notice, not on your person or in your carry-on.

Does a rule change if my transit ride only briefly enters a restrictive jurisdiction? Assume yes. “I was only passing through” is not a recognized legal defense in any of the jurisdictions covered above.

Do I need to declare that I’m carrying if stopped for an unrelated transit violation? It varies by state, and it’s a separate question from where you’re allowed to carry. Several states (Maryland among them) have no duty-to-inform requirement. That doesn’t change whether you’re allowed to carry on that system in the first place.