Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government cannot enact local firearm ordinances — Kentucky Revised Statutes Section 65.870 expressly bars any city, county, or urban-county government from occupying the field of firearm transfer, ownership, possession, carrying, or transportation. Carry, purchase, and possession rules are uniform statewide.
K.R.S. Sec. 65.870 prohibits any city, county, or urban-county government from occupying 'any part of the field of regulation of the transfer, ownership, possession, carrying or transportation of firearms, ammunition, or components of firearms.' Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG), an urban-county form of government under K.R.S. Ch. 67A, is fully covered. The statute grants any person adversely affected by a non-conforming ordinance a private right of action for declaratory and injunctive relief and reasonable attorney fees. LFUCG retains narrow remaining authority over firearm possession by its own employees on duty, restrictions on certain government property under K.R.S. Sec. 237.115 (subject to state-law limits), and generally applicable zoning and business ordinances applied to firearm dealers. Statewide, Kentucky has been a permitless (constitutional) concealed-carry state since 2019 (SB 150).
Any LFUCG ordinance conflicting with K.R.S. Sec. 65.870 is void. The statute creates a private right of action with declaratory and injunctive relief and reasonable attorney fees.
See how Lexington's local firearms preemption rules stack up against other locations.
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