With limited exceptions, North Dakota law generally prohibits people, including people who have concealed carry permits, from possessing a firearm at:

• A school or school-sponsored event on school property, or a publicly owned or operated building (not including a publicly owned or operated rest area or restroom);¹
• The part of a liquor establishment set aside for the retail sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages, unless the person is the proprietor, the proprietor’s employee, or a designee of the proprietor displaying an unloaded firearm as a prize or sale item in a raffle or auction;² or at
• An establishment used as a gaming site at which bingo is the primary gaming activity, unless the person is the proprietor, the proprietor’s employee, or a designee of the proprietor displaying an unloaded firearm as a prize or sale item in a raffle or auction;³

North Dakota also generally prohibits people from possessing firearms in places of worship, except that people with concealed carry permits or who are otherwise eligible to carry handguns in public under the state’s permitless carry law, are exempt from this restriction if the primary religious leader or governing body of the house of worship approves the individual or group of individuals to carry a firearm through a policy “or any other means.”⁴

North Dakota also generally prohibits possession of a firearm within a state game refuge or state game management area.⁵

Possession of a rifle or shotgun between sunset and sunrise in and about territory where big game animals are frequently and usually found is prima facie evidence that the person was hunting big game animals contrary to law.⁶

North Dakota law prohibits being “afield”⁷ with a firearm while intoxicated or under the influence of alcoholic beverages or drugs.⁸ However, the only penalty for a violation of this section is revocation of the person’s hunting privileges for two years.⁹

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1. N.D. Cent. Code § 62.1-02-05. However, this prohibition does not apply to competitors participating in organized sport shooting events; gun and antique shows; participants using blank cartridge firearms at sporting or theatrical events; firearms carried in a temporary residence or motor vehicle; students and instructors at hunter safety classes; an individual in a publicly owned or operated rest area or restroom; or private security personnel while on duty.[↩]
2. N.D. Cent. Code § 62.1-02-04.[↩]
3. N.D. Cent. Code § 62.1-02-04.[↩]
4. N.D. Cent. Code § 62.1-02-05.(1)(b), (2)(l) (amended by 2021 ND HB 1297).[↩]
5. N.D. Cent. Code § 20.1-11-13(3). The owner or lessee of lands or a lake set aside as a state game refuge may not carry firearms within its limits, nor permit his or her family members or other persons to do so, unless the owner or lessee has reason to believe there are carnivorous animals in the refuge and the Director of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department provides written permission to hunt such animals. N.D. Cent. Code § 20.1-11-08.[↩]
6. N.D. Cent. Code § 20.1-05-05.[↩]
7. “Afield” is defined in N.D. Cent. Code § 20.1-01-02 as “away from one’s home or camp.”[↩]
8. N.D. Cent. Code § 20.1-01-06.[↩]
9. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 20.1-01-06, 20.1-15-01—20.1-15-15.[↩]