# Can the POTUS CCW? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102 "2005-02-15T00:28:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/1 "2005-02-15T00:28:30Z")
If The President of the United States wished, could he legally conceal a pistol under his clothing? I would think his status as Chief law officer, or even Commander in Chief of the military give him the authority to do this. But does it? And I’m talking concealed, not open in a holster. If he doesn’t have the legal status to conceal, who would have the authority to stop him? Are there any known instances (in recent history) of a President packing? ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/2 "2005-02-15T01:08:39Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > If The President of the United States wished, could he legally conceal a pistol under his clothing? I would think his status as Chief law officer, or even Commander in Chief of the military give him the authority to do this. But does it? And I’m talking concealed, not open in a holster. If he doesn’t have the legal status to conceal, who would have the authority to stop him? > > Are there any known instances (in recent history) of a President packing? [Teddy was packing.](http://www.packing.org/news/article.jsp/8245) Not sure if you consider that recent though. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/3 "2005-02-15T01:21:49Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > If The President of the United States wished, could he legally conceal a pistol under his clothing? I would think his status as Chief law officer, or even Commander in Chief of the military give him the authority to do this. But does it? And I’m talking concealed, not open in a holster. If he doesn’t have the legal status to conceal, who would have the authority to stop him? > > Are there any known instances (in recent history) of a President packing? He could always pardon himself if caught. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/4 "2005-02-15T01:44:30Z")
At the very least, it’d make summit meetings more interesting. I’m pretty sure the Secret Service would object, though. In a moment of crisis, they wouldn’t want the Pres (who, even if a former military member, hasn’t received all the training given to agents) accidentally shooting himself, an agent, or a bystander. Did Jesse Ventura carry when he was governor of Minnesota? As an ex-Navy SEAL, it’s hard to picture an executive _more_ capable of handling himself and a firearm in a crisis. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/5 "2005-02-15T01:53:03Z")
Didn’t Eleanor Roosevelt carry a pistol in her purse while she was First Lady? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/6 "2005-02-15T04:05:51Z")
When Gordon Liddy was appointed as a deputy assistant Treasury Secretary, he wanted to carry a weapon. The law provided that the Secretary of the Treasury could designate agents that were permitted to carry arms. He merely put a memo in the file that he, as a deputy assistant Treasury Secretary, was an agent within the meaning of the law, and was authorized to carry a weapon anywhere in the country. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/7 "2005-02-15T04:40:22Z")
Aren’t concealed carry laws local laws? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/8 "2005-02-15T04:54:31Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Aren’t concealed carry laws local laws? Yes, but there are exceptions to local/state law. For instance, federal agents whether on/off duty are exempt from local ccw laws. Also [HR218](http://www.leaa.org/218/218text.html) exempts (with some restrictions) current & retired police officers from local CCW laws, allowing them to carry in all 50 states, regardless of where they’re a cop (on duty or off). My question is whether POTUS position also exempts him. I love the posts this thread is getting, but I still don’t have an answer. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/9 "2005-02-15T05:40:24Z")
If the POTUS cared to pack a CW, he could simply declare himself a member of the Secret Service. They can CCW anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/10 "2005-02-15T05:47:31Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > he could simply declare himself a member of the Secret Service. Cite? He can declare anything he wants. Doesn’t make it so. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/11 "2005-02-15T14:23:37Z")
I remember reading an article about five years ago about a certain California Senator who had a permit to carry. It was an entertaining article, because it was that same Senator who was working overtime to restrict gun ownership for everyone else. I guess she felt that it was okay for _important_ people like her to own and carry weapons, but not the hoi polloi. I can’t see why POTUS couldn’t go through the same process as any citizen to get a permit to carry. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/12 "2005-02-15T14:59:14Z")
I suppose it’s possible that, as head of the executive branch of government, which includes the Justice Department and the Treasury Department, which both have armed enforcement personnel (there are probably others, too), the President could do as **Bricker** says Liddy did while at Treasury, that is, simply designate himself (or direct the appropriate Secretary or AG or whatever to designate him) as an agent permitted to carry a firearm. But why wold the President _want_ to carry a gun? He has no need for one, and carrying a weapon is a pain in the ass, basically. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/13 "2005-02-15T15:14:35Z")
Washington DC doesn’t have concealed carry permits. In fact, they don’t allow open carry either. Law enforcement and on duty military only. So, the President, unless self-appointed to a position of federal exemption to local law may not carry a firearm. I don’t think the executive meets the definition of “agent” in any legal sense, either, but that is an opinion based on language, not knowledge of law. ## Tris “It was a woman drove me to drink and I didn’t even have the decency to thank her.” ~ W.C. Fields ~ ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/14 "2005-02-15T15:19:52Z")
Maybe that was what the hump in his suit was, maybe he has a whole gunrack back there. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/15 "2005-02-15T15:24:02Z")
> [@LMM](#): > > But why wold the President _want_ to carry a gun? He has no need for one, I don’t care about motive. What I want to know is, right now, does POTUS have the legal, and/or Constitutional authority, as President, to pack a weapon. This really isn’t even a gun thread, it’s a legal one. > [@LMM](#): > > and carrying a weapon is a pain in the ass, basically. No it isn’t. I do it every day. You’re supposed to carry it in a holster, not in your ass!:p:D ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/16 "2005-02-15T15:27:15Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Did Jesse Ventura carry when he was governor of Minnesota? As an ex-Navy SEAL, it’s hard to picture an executive _more_ capable of handling himself and a firearm in a crisis. Just to clear up a misconception here – Jesse Ventura never was a Navy SEAL.[ > [@](#): > > ]([http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199912/14\_kastem\_seals/](http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199912/14_kastem_seals/))Governor Ventura’s office confirmed that Ventura was never a member of the elite Navy SEALs, but he says he did train to be a SEAL, and that his membership in the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams was practically the same as being a SEAL. But a former SEAL and journalist in San Diego says the UDT’s were _not_ the same as SEALs during Vietnam, and he says Ventura is taking credit for the valor of others. As to the first point, I don’t know if Ventura carried as governor of MN, but he did obtain a CCW permit after he was inaugurated. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/17 "2005-02-15T16:54:31Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > When Gordon Liddy was appointed as a deputy assistant Treasury Secretary, he wanted to carry a weapon. The law provided that the Secretary of the Treasury could designate agents that were permitted to carry arms. He merely put a memo in the file that he, as a deputy assistant Treasury Secretary, was an agent within the meaning of the law, and was authorized to carry a weapon anywhere in the country. The asst. Treasury Secretary is part of the Treasury Dept. though, I’m not sure that the CINC is actually a member of the military. I was under the impression the president was a civilian. Similarily I don’t think that the POTUS is member of any specific gov’t department, so I’m skeptical that their excemptions would apply to him. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/18 "2005-02-15T18:49:52Z")
The only way to be certain if he has the constitutional authority would be for him to pack a side arm, be challeneged by a by some officer of the law and have a court decide. He is technically (by the Constitution) the head of the armed forces of the United States and could (and probably would) successfully argue that the title gives him the right to carry a firearm. Who do think would challenge him? Local authorities cannot get close enough to him to shake him down unless the secert service allows it. Oh, and he dosen’t he have access to “the Button” at all times? Isn’t that like carrying the ultimate mother of all sidearms. I guess technically, his phone is a weapon since he can order peoples death with it halfway around the world. Just being a little outragious. But you get my point. . . ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/19 "2005-02-15T18:55:07Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > Washington DC doesn’t have concealed carry permits. In fact, they don’t allow open carry either. Law enforcement and **on duty military only**. So, the President, unless self-appointed to a position of federal exemption to local law may not carry a firearm. I don’t think the executive meets the definition of “agent” in any legal sense, either, but that is an opinion based on language, not knowledge of law. The President is Commander-in-Chief of the military. I think it would qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102/20 "2005-02-15T19:15:53Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The President is Commander-in-Chief of the military. I think it would qualify. Possibly not. Being in the military, whether one is the highest-ranking officer in the service or an enlisted man, doesn’t automatically confer upon one the right to carry a concealed weapon around, as far as I know. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-ccw/290102.md?page=2)