Carrying in Michigan State Parks and Public Lands

The starting point is Mich. Comp. Laws § 324.504, part of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA, Act 451 of 1994). This is the section that lets the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) write rules for the land it controls, but it's a narrower grant than people assume. The statute authorizes the department to adopt rules:

"for the protection of the lands and property under its control against wrongful use or occupancy"

That's it. It's a property-protection statute, not a general police-power statute. For years the DNR read that authority broadly and, through an administrative rule (former R 299.927), banned loaded firearms in state parks and recreation areas outside of hunting season or a designated range. A 2003 Michigan Attorney General opinion (No. 7123) upheld that reading, concluding a Concealed Pistol License holder could carry in a state park while hiking or camping, but only unloaded, unless it was hunting season on land open to hunting, at a DNR target range, or during a sanctioned field trial.

That's no longer the controlling rule. Subsection 8 of MCL 324.504 now blocks the department from promulgating or enforcing a rule that would stop someone who's otherwise legally entitled to carry, a CPL holder, specifically, from carrying on land under DNR control. Current guidance from the Michigan State Police and multiple current legal summaries point to that subsection as the reason a CPL holder can carry a loaded, concealed pistol anywhere in a Michigan state park, recreation area, state forest, or state game and wildlife area, the same as anywhere else in the state. That's a real shift from the 2003 opinion. Plenty of older forum posts and some outdated pages still repeat the "must be unloaded" line, so don't be surprised if you run into both versions when you search this yourself.

On the concealed carry side, Michigan's Concealed Pistol Licensing Act (Act 372 of 1927, now spread across MCL 28.421 and following) lists specific "pistol-free zones" in MCL 28.425o, places where even a CPL holder can't carry concealed. That list doesn't include state parks, state forests, or wildlife management areas.

Open carry is a different animal in Michigan because there's no statute that specifically regulates it. A person 18 or older who can legally possess a firearm can open carry in public, state land included, as long as it's carried with lawful intent and isn't concealed. The pistol-free zones in MCL 28.425o apply only to concealed carry under a license, not to open carry.

Hiking the dunes at Ludington State Park. A CPL holder clips a holstered pistol under a jacket and heads out on the trail. Under current application of MCL 324.504(8), that's a loaded, concealed pistol on DNR land, and it's legal. Twenty years ago, under the 2003 Attorney General opinion, that same pistol would have had to be unloaded outside of hunting season. The statute has moved past that opinion.

Firearm deer season in a state game area. A hunter walks into a state wildlife area during the November firearm season carrying a shotgun slung openly, tag in pocket, license current. That's exactly what the land is managed for during that window. The hunter still has to respect the safety zone the DNR requires around occupied buildings, 450 feet, unless the discharge is for a non-hunting purpose, target shooting on a range, or law enforcement activity.

Plinking cans at a picnic area in a state recreation area. This is where people get tripped up. Carrying a firearm into the picnic area is fine. Setting up cans on a stump and shooting them is not, unless you're doing it on a DNR-designated range such as those at Algonac State Park or Bald Mountain Recreation Area, or you're legally hunting during an open season on land designated for it. The carry statute and the discharge rule are two separate questions, and conflating them is the most common way people get a ranger's attention.

Camping in a state forest at 19 with no CPL. You're too young for a CPL (minimum age 21), but you're old enough to possess a firearm and open carry it if you're a resident and the gun is registered in your name. You can walk into camp with a holstered, visible handgun. You cannot carry it concealed, and if it rides in your vehicle, it has to be unloaded and cased unless a CPL exempts it.

A handful of categories get treated differently under these rules:

"State parks are gun-free." They're not, and this is probably the single most persistent myth. Nothing in MCL 28.425o's pistol-free zone list touches state parks, forests, or wildlife areas, and MCL 324.504(8) specifically stops the DNR from writing a rule to the contrary for CPL holders.

"You need separate DNR permission to carry." No such permission exists for carry itself. The DNR's rulemaking power under MCL 324.504 is about protecting land and property, not about layering a second licensing scheme on top of the state's carry laws.

"A CPL lets you shoot wherever you want in a park." Carrying and discharging are different legal questions. A loaded pistol in your holster is fine on the trail. Setting up targets on state park land outside hunting season or a designated range is not, and that restriction has nothing to do with whether you're licensed to carry.

"The 2003 Attorney General opinion is still the rule." It gets cited a lot because it's detailed and easy to find, but current application of MCL 324.504(8) and current Michigan State Police guidance has moved past its "unloaded unless hunting" conclusion. If you find that opinion in a search, know that it predates the current statutory language it would be interpreting today.

• Mich. Comp. Laws § 324.504 (NREPA, Act 451 of 1994)
• Mich. Comp. Laws § 324.41904 (discharge prohibitions and exceptions)
• Act 372 of 1927, Concealed Pistol Licensing Act (MCL 28.421 et seq.)
• Michigan Attorney General Opinion No. 7123 (Feb. 11, 2003)
• Michigan DNR, Firearms and Bows regulations
• Michigan State Police, Concealed Pistol License Requirements

Last Reviewed: October 17, 2026