Congress Should Finish the Job on Recognizing Concealed Carry Permits

 How about a little gun news.  This is first and foremost a gun blog, though events have unfolded that require me to emphasize the Christian nature of self-defense and of course guns that facilitate it.  I have spoken in the past about the fact that a license to carry a firearm in public is much like a driver's license.  For example, your state of residence examines you, and determines that you have no criminal history or other disability that would prevent you from owning a handgun, and that you have taken and passed the required legal training and submitted the paperwork requirements and the fees.  I think all states have implemented some sort of mental inquiry into their examination of your qualifications.  They thereupon license you to carry a weapon in public, usually concealed.  Here's the difference; with a driver's license you can drive in any state, but with a concealed weapon permit, your rights end at the state line.

Sean Maloney at Ammoland makes the argument that America is Overdue for National Concealed Weapons Carry Reciprocity.

If you can legally carry a concealed firearm in your home state, you should be able to do the same when you travel across state lines. That’s common sense. It’s consistent with the Constitution. And thanks to the Supreme Court, it’s increasingly clear that it should be the law.

America doesn’t tell travelers to give up their First Amendment rights at a state border. It doesn’t say that Ohioans lose free speech in New Jersey, or that Texans lose Fourth Amendment protections when landing at LAX. Yet with the Second Amendment, some states act as if constitutional rights stop at their borders.

They don’t.

Gentle readers can read the entire article and are encouraged to do so. It covers such things as that concealed carriers would still have to obey local laws and that in truth concealed carriers are more law abiding than the average person. Congress regulates such things across the states all the time. Driver's licenses are just one of them. Marriages in one state are recognized in all the other states as well. What Congress has so far been unable to overcome is the minority of states, like New York and Illinois, that refuse to recognize other states licenses to carry a concealed weapon. But now, while the Republicans have a majority and a president willing to sign off on it is the time. I know, of course, that a number of RINOs would balk at it as well, but in truth it is no longer such a stretch. Most states already recognize each others permits, and Congress doing its duty is just finishing the job.