Last Updated: September 1, 2025
While most states do not restrict mask wearing, 23 states and Washington D.C. have laws that limit face coverings in public spaces. Many of these laws raise First Amendment concerns in the context of protests, as they can punish or chill expressive activity by people who want to wear a mask for health, religious, privacy, symbolic, or other lawful purposes. In states with anti-mask laws, authorities have used the laws to target individuals who wear a mask while protesting. Lawmakers and others have also proposed new and often overbroad restrictions on masking in public, frequently citing protesters who have covered their faces.
For the minority of states with laws limiting masks in public, the restrictions tend to fall into three categories: 1) General bans on masks, with exceptions; 2) Bans on masking with a certain intent; and 3) Bans on masking while committing a crime. This database provides a summary of the anti-mask law or laws in each state, the type of restriction, and links to the relevant statutes.
Learn more by reading ICNL’s briefer Anti-Mask Laws and the First Amendment (Sept. 2025). For more information, contact Elly Page (epage@icnl.org) or Nick Robinson (nrobinson@icnl.org).
Alabama Offense:
It is an offense if a person “being masked, loiters, remains, or congregates in a public place.” Exceptions: Going to or from or staying at a masquerade party; participating in a public parade or presentation of an educational, religious, or historical character; participating in an athletic event.
Violation for first offense, then misdemeanor.
Year Enacted: 1949
Arizona Offense:
Any felony offense is subject to an increased penalty if the defendant “used a mask or other disguise to obscure [their] face to avoid identification” during or immediately after the felony was committed.
Year Enacted: 2018
Recent Bills: Y – 2017
California Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to wear any mask or disguise, complete or partial, for the purpose of:
Year Enacted: 1873
Connecticut Offense:
It is unlawful to wear a mask, hood, or other devise designed to conceal the identity of the wearer with intent to deprive another of their rights based on their religion, race, sex, or other protected characteristics, while committing one of the following offenses: depriving another person of their rights on account of protected characteristics; desecrating public property or property of another; placing a burning cross or noose with intent to intimidate or harass another person on account of protected characteristics.
Year Enacted: 1949
Delaware Offense:
Year Enacted: 1982 / 1996
DC Offense:
It is an offense for a person to wear a mask or other article whereby a substantial portion of their face is hidden, concealed, or covered as to conceal the identity of the wearer if the intent of the person is to avoid identification while engaging in a dangerous crime; a crime of violence; theft; or threats to do bodily harm.
Year Enacted: 2024 (Original anti-mask law enacted in 1982 but repealed in 2020)
Florida Offense:
Under 876.12-876.15, it is unlawful to wear a mask, hood, or device whereby any portion of the face is so hidden, concealed, or covered as to conceal the identity of the wearer while on a public street or property, on property of another, or at a demonstration or meeting. 876.155 limits application to someone who intends a) to deprive another of equal protection; b) to deprive another of rights; c) to intimidate, threaten, abuse, or harass any other person; or d) to avoid identification while engaging in conduct “that could reasonably lead to the institution of a civil or criminal proceeding.”
Under 876.20, it is unlawful for someone wearing a mask “to place, or to cause to be placed, at, on, or in any place any exhibit of any kind whatsoever.”
775.0845 provides that any criminal offense (other than those above) are subject to a penalty of one degree higher if committed by someone wearing a mask, hood, or other devise that concealed their identity.
Year Enacted: 1) 1951 2) 1951 3) 1981
Georgia Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to wear a mask, hood, or device that covers any part of the face as to conceal their identity, while in a public place or on private property of another without permission, with intent to conceal their identity. Exceptions: traditional holiday costumes; for safety when lawfully engaging in trade, employment, or sport; Mardi Gras, masquerades, or theatrical production; gas mask during emergency drills; to comply with health care agency or provider guidance to prevent spread of infectious disease.
Year Enacted: 1951
Louisiana Offense:
It is unlawful to wear a mask or disguise “of any kind” in public if “calculated to conceal or hide the identity of the person or to prevent his being readily recognized.” Exceptions: Halloween; cultural, religious, or historical parades and exhibitions; masquerades; Mardi Gras; religious coverings; motorcycle helmets; and medical masks. Exceptions for masquerades and Mardi Gras only apply if permitted by authorities.
Year Enacted: 1999
Massachusetts Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to “disguise” themselves “with intent to obstruct the due execution of the law, or to intimidate, hinder or interrupt” an officer or other person in lawful performance of their duty or exerise of their rights.
Year Enacted: 1809
Michigan Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to conceal their identity by wearing a mask or other face covering “for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a crime”.
Year Enacted: 1931
Minnesota Offense:
It is an offense for a person to conceal their identity in a public place by means of a mask or other disguise. Exceptions: based on religious beliefs or “incidental to amusement, entertainment, protection from weather, or medical treatment.”
Year Enacted: 1963
New Jersey Offense:
It is an offense for someone to engage in “disorderly conduct” while concealing or attempting to conceal their identity “with purpose to instill fear, hinder prosecution, or avoid apprehension.” Exceptions: masks worn “solely for medical, religious, or expressive purposes.”
Year Enacted: 2025
New Mexico Offense:
It is unlawful to for a person to conceal their identity or disguise themselves “with intent to obstruct the due execution of the law or with intent to intimidate, hinder or interrupt any public officer or any other person in a legal performance of his duty or the exercise of his rights.”
Year Enacted: 1953
New York Offense:
It is unlawful for someone to wear a mask or otherwise obscure their face “for no legitimate purpose” and “with the intent to prevent their identification, apprehension, or arrest” while committing or fleeing from the commission of a felony or class A misdemeanor.
Year Enacted: 2025 (prior law dated to 1845)
Recent Bills: Yes – 2024, 2025
North Carolina Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to wear a mask or other device that conceals their identity while on on public property or private property of another, or while holding “any manner of meeting” or demonstration. Exceptions: holiday costumes; trades; theatrical productions, Mardi Gras, or masquerades; gas masks during defense drills or emergencies; parades or other rituals by members of a society or organization if a permit has been obtained; medical masks to prevent the spread of contagious disease, however the mask wearer must remove it if requested by law enforcement or by the owner or occupant of property where the wearer is present; labor union meetings; motorcycle helmets.
Year Enacted: 1953
North Dakota Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to wear a mask or other device that conceals any part of the person’s face a) with intent to intimidate, threaten, abuse or harass another; b) to evade identification during commission of a crime; c) to enable escape if charged, arrested, or convicted of a crime; or d) with intent to conceal the person’s identity while congregating in public with other individuals wearing masks or other devices that conceal any part of their faces.
Year Enacted: 2017
Recent Bills: Yes – 2025 (enacted)
Ohio Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to join with two or more others to commit a misdemeanor while wearing masks or other disguise.
Year Enacted: 1953
Recent Bills: Yes – 2019
Oklahoma Offense:
RS 21 S 1301: It is unlawful for a person to wear a mask or covering that conceals their identity during the commission of a crime or for the purpose of coercion, intimidation or harassment. Exceptions: Halloween; masquerade parties; public parades and exhibitions of an educational, religious, or historical nature; meetings of an organization in a building under the organization’s control; circuses and other dramatic shows.
RS 21 S 1302-1303: It is unlawful to wear a mask or disguise while trespassing onto the property of another with intent to cause bodily injury or injure property; or while assaulting another with a dangerous weapon “or other instrument of punishment.”
Year Enacted: 1923
South Carolina Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to wear a mask or other device that conceals their identity while on on public property or private property of another, or while participating in “any meeting or demonstration” on private property of another. Exceptions: traditional holiday costumes; trade or employment; theater production; gas mask in defense drill or emergency.
Year Enacted: 1951
Tennessee Offense:
It is unlawful to wear a mask with intent to commit the offense of “intimidating others from exercising civil rights.” The underlying offense includes damaging or defacing property “with intent to unlawfully intimidate” another from exercising their rights, or because they exercised their rights.
Year Enacted: 1989
Recent Bills: Yes – 2020
Texas Offense:
*In 2025, Texas enacted a law requiring all public colleges and universities to prohibit wearing mask or other means of concealing identity while engaging in “expressive activities” on campus with intent to: (i) obstruct the enforcement of the institution’s rules or the law by avoiding identification; (ii) intimidate others; or (iii) interfere with an institution employee’s or a peaceofficer’s lawful performance of a duty.
Recent Bills: Yes – 2025
Virginia Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to, with the intent to conceal their identity, wear a mask or other device that covers a substantial part of the face so as to conceal their identity while in a public place, or on private property without permission. Exceptions: traditional holiday costumes; trade or employment; theatre production or masquerade; or “bona fide medical reasons” either on advice of a physician while carrying a physician’s affidavit, or pursuant to an emergency declaration that waives the mask prohibition.
Year Enacted: 1950
West Virginia Offense:
It is unlawful for a person to wear a mask or other device that covers any portion of the face so as to conceal the wearer’s identity and be present in a public place or on private property without permission. Exceptions: children; traditional holiday costumes; trade or employment; theatre productions; civil defense drills; weather protection or winter sport.
Year Enacted: 1988
Federal Offense:
It is an offense for two or more people to “go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured.”
Year Enacted: 1948
