Inheriting a Firearm in Indiana: Permit, Report, Dealer and What the Code Says About Inheritance

Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: In Indiana, an ordinary heir does not need a state permit, licence or card to receive or possess the firearm, and the acquisition does not have to be reported to any state agency. Indiana has no dealer-mediated background-check law for private transfers at all, so there is no such mandate for a bequest to be exempt from. The statute does not name inheritance, bequest or intestate succession anywhere in the sections that govern this. Every answer below is quoted from Indiana’s own code with the section named and linked, because this is a subject where being roughly right is not a category that exists.

What Indiana law settles, in four lines

What this covers. An ordinary estate transfer in Indiana: the person who died and the person inheriting are in the same state, and the firearm is an ordinary rifle, shotgun, pistol or revolver. Machine guns, suppressors, short-barrelled rifles and anything else registered under the National Firearms Act run on a separate federal track that is not this page, and neither is moving a firearm across a state line. The federal layer is set out separately.

Does the heir need a permit, licence or card

No. Indiana does not condition receiving or possessing an inherited firearm on a state permit, licence or card.

A person may carry a handgun without being licensed under this chapter to carry a handgun if: (1) the person carries the handgun on or about the person’s body in or on property that is owned, leased, rented, or otherwise legally controlled by the person

Source: IC 35-47-2-1(a)-(b) (post-P.L.175-2022 text, ‘Current as of January 02, 2024’ per the archived page), read against IC 35-47-2-3

Does anyone have to be told, and by when

No. Nothing in Indiana’s code requires the acquisition to be reported or registered with a state or local agency.

Application of section to firearms not required to be registered in National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record; return of firearms to rightful owners; disposal procedure Sec. 2. (a) This section applies only to firearms which are not required to be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

Source: IC 35-47, full article (chapters 1-12, 103 sections), law.onecle.com verbatim mirror

Does it have to go through a licensed dealer

Indiana has no dealer-mediated background-check law for private transfers at all, so there is no such mandate for a bequest to be exempt from. The claim that an inherited firearm always has to be transferred through a licensed dealer is not true as a flat statement in any state in this table.

The one dealer-related provision on the books does not reach an ordinary private transfer:

It is unlawful for a person to sell, give, or in any manner transfer the ownership or possession of a handgun to another person who the person has reasonable cause to believe: (1) has been: (A) convicted of a felony; or (B) adjudicated a delinquent child for an act that would be a felony if committed by an adult, if the person seeking to obtain ownership or possession of the handgun is less than twenty-three (23) years of age; (2) is a drug abuser; (3) is an alcohol abuser; or (4) is mentally incompetent.

Source: IC 35-47-2-7(b) (2006-mirror text; current text corroborated but not independently saved; see notes)

What the code says about inheritance itself

The statute does not name inheritance, bequest or intestate succession anywhere in the sections that govern this.

The nearest provision, quoted, does not name inheritance:

Except an individual acting within a parent-minor child or guardian-minor protected person relationship or any other individual who is also acting in compliance with IC 35-47-10, a person may not sell, give, or in any other manner transfer the ownership or possession of a handgun or assault weapon (as defined in IC 35-50-2-11) to any person under eighteen (18) years of age.

Source: IC 35-47, full article (chapters 1-12, 103 sections), law.onecle.com verbatim mirror

What this page does not tell you

• This is what the statute says, not what a court or a police department has done with it. No case law and no agency guidance was read. Where a code is silent, this page reports silence rather than filling it in.
• City and county rules sit on top and are not here. A local rule can add a step the state code does not mention.
• Who may possess is a separate question from how it transfers. A federal or state bar on possession (a felony conviction, a protective order, an involuntary commitment) attaches to the person and reaches an inherited firearm exactly as it reaches a bought one.
• A gun trust is a different mechanism and is covered separately. What a gun trust does and does not do is its own question, and it is mostly a federal one.
• This is general information, not legal advice. On this subject a wrong step is not a paperwork problem, so the sections are linked for you to read and a probate lawyer in the state is the right next call if anything here is close.

Sources

Every answer on this page comes out of a 51-jurisdiction table built from statute text. Indiana’s four cells are individually cited below.

All 51 jurisdictions are in the by-state table, with the same four cells for every state side by side.

General consumer information, not legal advice. State codes are as published by the cited source and change without notice; the statute and a lawyer in the state govern.