CCW information on the the iPhone
Legal Heat is an iPhone / iPod Touch electronic version of the CCW guide Legal Heat: 50 State Guide to Firearm Laws and Regulations. At $1.99 is it a lot cheaper than the $15 paperback edition.
I purchased to application to try it out. It is quite straightforward. It gives each state a rating on how friendly they are towards concealed carry, lists where CCW is prohibited in each state and any other pertinent information relating to the state laws on CCW.
My only major criticism is that the Firearm Laws section only lists CCW law, not all state gun laws. It does not, for example, tell me what types of rifles are prohibited in California. Either the Firearm Law tab should be renamed "CCW Law" or they should add general firearm info. Preferably the latter.
I do not regret buying it and I have found it an interesting read.
Hat Tip: Dustin's Gun Blog
It appears there was an update available yesterday. What changed?
Heath,
The rating system is our own based off of statutes (prohibited areas), common law, reciprocity, and user comments. A 5 star state would recognize all other permits (or not even require a permit), have minimal prohibited areas (eg. see Utah and Idaho) and have a firearm friendly attorney general and legislature. Since we haven’t carried everywhere, however, we’re always open for opinions.
On another note we had an update go through yesterday that added reciprocity and reverse reciprocity maps to the states and revised the transport laws to reflect next months change in national park carry (plus we added a few more sections and made it easier to read). We’re taking ideas right now for what to do next, let me know if you have any other ideas.
Thanks
Thanks for the info. How about some type of explanation for the rating assigned for each of the 50 states? If I were moving to another state, like I am in 2 weeks, or just new to the world of firearms I might not know many details about that states laws. Just seeing Missouri is rated at a 3 while right under it Montana has 4. Why? What needs to be changed to make it a 5?
Heath:
Steve’s right. We added reciprocity and reverse reciprocity maps for 10 states, and restored the ability to view the pages in landscape mode. Plus we cited all of the laws to eliminate confusion. Another 19 states were submitted to be updated in the same manner yesterday plus a revision of the transport laws to reflect the upcoming change in national parks. Once we finish all of these (in the next few weeks) we’re going to be adding more substantive information like self defense laws, open carry, etc. I wish we could get it done sooner but apple is taking a while to release updates. I’m having my developer work on your idea as we speak. Stay tuned, thanks.
I see there was an update released recently. What changes were made?
Heath, some additional info was added. Nothing major.
I look forward to seeing that feature added. Personally, I would use it when ever I got ready to cross State lines so that I could print a copy to take with me.
Heath,
That’s a GREAT idea. We’re also looking into adding a “Law Changes” button that would link the user to us to allow them to immediately notify us about any changes in the law that we might not be aware of. Understand, we’re currently adding a LOT of content to the app that will make it a LOT better, so we might wait until after that all updates (early January) before we add that feature, but I think that would be a great addition. Thanks!
Phil,
Is there any way to setup the app to allow us to e-mail a particular set of laws for a state so that we might be able to print it out?
I bought the app, checked Texas, where i live.
The Prohibited Places list was years out of date.
I sent corrections to the author.
Great idea for an pp, but I’m not going to rely on it to keep me out of prison yet.
Woot! I am downloading it now. Thanks!!
why did you choose Nebraska for the picture, out of curiosity? o.O
KP, just their example screenshots. I have not figured out how to take screenshots on my ipod touch.
Excellent idea. I talked to the app author yesterday & he does plan to add open carry laws & State vehicle carry laws early next year.
Dustin, ah, I was actually thinking about vehicle laws but forgot to mention it in the post. Yes, that would be very useful, especially if it also includes vehicle laws for longarms.
Thanks for the write-up. I’m actually the developer of this app and I really appreciate the feedback, especially about the limit on laws we currently include. We are working diligently to improve the summaries for each state. We launched this as a “bare bones” version and will be updating the summaries regularly for free, with a total overhaul expected by mid January. An update to correct 4 states will be coming out next week.
We want to make it the best app possible, so suggestions are greatly appreciated on our site.
Thanks again!
Phil
Phil, I look forward to the update!
When you put this app on your phone in the People’s Republik of Kalifornia it classifies you iPhone as an SBR, be prepared to pay for your tax stamp.
CMathewa, LOL
If you add California gun law, the app wouldn’t fit on an 8GB model