No-weapons signs and state law

No-weapons signs are common on office doors, factories, clinics and job sites. Many are posted simply to state company policy. But whether a sign has any legal effect on someone carrying a firearm, and what exactly it must say, depends almost entirely on state law. This is one sign where the wording can matter as much as the message.

Policy versus law

As a matter of workplace policy, an employer can generally set rules for its own employees, and a sign is a reasonable way to remind people of them, the same as a drug-free workplace sign. The harder question is whether a sign binds members of the public who carry legally. Some states give a posted sign the force of law, so ignoring it can be trespassing or a separate offense. Some give it no special effect. Some require a particular wording, size or graphic before it counts. And many states limit what employers can prohibit; for example, a number of states protect an employee's right to keep a lawfully owned firearm locked in a private vehicle in the parking lot.

An example: Texas

Texas is the best-known example of a state that prescribes the sign itself. Texas Penal Code §30.06 covers notice to people carrying a concealed handgun, and §30.07 covers openly carried handguns. Each statute sets out the exact words a sign must use, and for the sign to count as notice it must include that language in both English and Spanish, appear in contrasting colors with block letters at least one inch high, and be displayed conspicuously where the public can see it. A §30.07 sign must be displayed at each entrance to the property. Because the two statutes cover different things, a property that wants to give both notices posts both signs.

A generic sign, or a pistol with a red slash through it, does not match that statutory wording. We have not reproduced the statutory text here, because it has been amended over the years; copy it from the current statute, and check whether your property is one where the rules differ.

Other states

Other states have their own approaches. Some specify a particular graphic or a minimum size; some require posting at each entrance; some say nothing at all about signs. Federal facilities have their own notice rules as well. Because these laws change and the details matter, the only reliable guide is your state's current statute, or an attorney who knows it. Nothing in this post is legal advice.

Symbol styles

The builder's workplace-rule pictograms include a firearm, a knife, a dagger, a sword, a crossbow and a bow, and each can be drawn three ways:

• Prohibited: a red circle with a diagonal slash, the familiar style used in ISO 7010 prohibition signs.
• Permitted: a green ring, a common way to say an item is allowed in a designated place.
• None: the bare symbol, for when the words carry the meaning.

Making the sign

If your state prescribes wording, type it into the message field exactly, add the Spanish or other required language in the second message field, and check the result against the statute's size and letter-height rules. A landscape header sign is 14 by 10 inches at full size; if the statute requires one-inch letters, print at actual size from the Printable PDF and measure, as described in our printing guide.

Browse ready-made weapons, drug and alcohol signs in the Weapons, Drugs and Alcohol series, or start from a blank NOTICE sign.