> There are only three states in the U.S that have an outright ban on openly carrying firearms; California, Illinois, and (oddly enough) Florida. Sixteen others require a permit to openly carry, though in most states a concealed carry license also covers openly carried firearms. > Rhode Island issues concealed carry-only permits through local licensing authorities, but anyone wanting to bear arms openly must apply for an "unrestricted" carry permit through the state Attorney General's office, and applicants must show a "need" to open carry in order to obtain their Second Amendment permission slip. > That flies in the face of what the Supreme Court held in Bruen: proper-cause requirements violate the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense. > Despite that plain language, a federal judge has upheld Rhode Island's "may issue" scheme by declaring that so long as the state has a "shall issue" permitting system for concealed carry it can impose whatever restrictions it wants on openly carried arms.