By Rob Morse
Louisiana- (Ammoland.com)- New York won’t recognize the licenses from Connecticut or Massachusetts. New Jersey won’t recognize New York or Pennsylvania. California cops won’t recognize your license from Arizona, Nevada or Oregon.
I’m talking about the license to carry a concealed weapon in public, and with over 15 million licensed concealed carriers in the U.S., recognition between states is a study in contrasts. Some 15 states say a law-abiding adult can legally carry a loaded firearm in public without any permit at all. In contrast, a visitor carrying without a recognized license in California is usually charged with a felony and faces years in jail.
Welcome to the bizarre nightmare endured by honest gun owners every day.
Recognizing the permits and licenses issued by other states is broadly called reciprocity. Politicians say a number of factors are involved. The decision to recognize your carry permit from another state isn’t a matter of public safety. Concealed carry holders are the most law abiding segment of society. Concealed carry holders are more law abiding and less likely to commit a legal violation with a firearm than are the police.
Permit reciprocity isn’t a an issue of protecting the public from risks. For comparison, we recognize drivers licenses between states and territories. The licenses vary widely in the training, the age, and the levels of insurance required before you may legally operate a motor vehicle on public roads. The public risks are real since automobile accidents injure far more people than firearms accidents.
Recognizing out-of-state legal documents is nothing new. We recognize the legal certificates and decrees issued by other states every day. For example, we recognize death certificates, divorce decrees, and adoption certificates even though those laws vary widely from state to state. Federal judges mandated the recognition of marriage between states even though the states have significantly different marriage laws.
Denying reciprocity isn’t a matter of state laws lagging behind public practice. Legally carrying a firearm in public is increasingly common, and has been legal since before the country was founded. The restrictions on firearms owners are not based on safety or legal philosophy at all.
These restrictions are about money and political power.
Firearms restrictions are rooted in racism. Southern Democrats wrote racist gun laws as part of the Jim Crow laws imposing segregation after the Civil War. Firearms restrictions spread as minorities moved across the country. These laws were a way for wealthy local majorities to oppress poor minorities, particularly transient minorities who lacked local political representation.
These regulations certainly don’t stop crime. The cities with the strictest regulations have among the highest rates for violent crime. Even the police say honest citizens should carry guns for public safety. So, why are guns over-regulated today?
It is called “Policing for Profit”. I’ve seen California cops deliberately ticket out of state drivers. This is easy robbery for the local government. The cops know the out-of-towners will pay the bogus tickets. Few of us can afford the time and expense to return to California simply to go to court to fight the trumped up charges.
How do we stop this corruption, be it against drivers or against over-regulated gun owners?
We don’t have to guess at the answer. Economists who studied the incentives of government actions have modeled how power is applied to politicians. Politicians act to maximize their political “profit”. They concentrate benefits and spread the costs. Special interests give campaign donations to anti-rights politicians. The politicians incrementally disarm the entire populace, including visitors from out of state.
Economists learned that pro-rights states should play a legal game of “tit-for-tat”; “We’ll treat your citizens the way you treat ours.” That puts the pressure back on the anti-rights politicians. In economic terms, it makes their anti-rights bigotry politically expensive. In practical terms, pro-rights states could associate their concealed carry permits as part of their driver’s licenses. Then the politicians say, “If you won’t recognize our “driver’s licenses”, then we won’t recognize yours.”
Ultimately we need a political solution to a political problem. Government officials in big-government states do more than harass gun owners for non-violent violations. These officials also grant concealed carry permits to their political supporters. These politicians grant licenses in return for kickbacks and political favors. They view the kickback system as part of their personal benefit package that comes with their government position. Graft is right there next to their vacation pay and lifetime pension.
A federal judge can put a stop to that corruption once and for all, but local officials will never go willingly.
The federal government can use a political hammer to force reciprocity, the same way Obama forced us to accept refugees and unisex bathrooms. Concealed carry licenses in anti-rights states are issued by county sheriffs. In a battle of political attrition, the feds have more lawyers and money than a county.
Please carry where you legally can.
~_~_
Rob Morse: Rob writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob is an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.
There are a lot of problems expressed here, but few solutions are mentioned. Perhaps attention should be invited to the NRA-ILA page that outlines the one Senate bill and the four house bills that seek to address these problems. The solution lies with Congress. The proposed solutions in those bills would provide a means to concealed carry throughout the United States while respecting the rights of those states to impose reasonable (REASONABLE) restrictions on that right (it’s not just a privilege). Some states allow guns in churches, some do not. Some states allow guns in bars, others don’t. With due… Read more »
Author: Mark
Comment:
A bit of history: pre-Jim Crow.
Mark, Freedmen were former slaves. There was a Freedmen Bureau in D.C. .
As for the KKK being created by or because of carpetbaggers, it is possible, I can’t say but there is no doubt that the KKK was and is solidly Democrat.
I know they were former slaves. They would even assault or murder other Freedmen if they did not vote Republican. I don’t know about the KKK being Democrat now. Let me refer you John Choate’s work, “Washington’s KKK: The Union League.” The read presents soundly researched to me. The Abbeville Institute would have something on their site about it and other related subjects. It’s a group of PhD. Scholars. My favorite are Dr. Donald Livingston’s works.
The New Jersey the attorney genetal has said he will not obey a recirocity law until upheld by thevsupreme ciurt. Nota bene
A bit of history: pre-Jim Crow. Few people have heard of the Union League formed in Chicago in 1862. It became a political bullying machine in the north during the War Between the States to silence anti-invasion/war sentiment. After the war, the League expanded and invaded the south to reconstruct the minds of southerners about the “virtues” of the Republican Party at that time. The League formed carpetbagger governments, armed freedmen (former Condederates were not allowed firearms-gun control-racism against white southerners set up by northern empire builders) and these groups were militants who did reprehensible acts (arson, theft, rape, murder… Read more »
Fortunately, thanks to George Bush who signed HR 218 into law, I can carry anywhere in the US concealed or open in the states that permit open carry.
With the Feds doing the Background checks
The Carry law should be for ALL states !
one for all, all for one
make sense to me
I can protect myself in my state but
not in yours ! Guess my tourist money,
goes elsewhere .
The existing fiasco above described will only be remedied by federal legislation. Want to know why, think power, think money, all of which flow to and through “local hands and offices”, and then ask yourself the following question, the answer to which is self-evident. Were you a “public official”, how willing would you be to see your power, your perks diminished? Not very I suspect. Have you been in touch with your Congressional representative and or U.S. Senator lately? If not, why?
Some more Illinois crud… Person to Person Firearms Transfer 430 ILCS 65/3(a-10) – Any person who is not a federally licensed firearm dealer and who desires to transfer or sell a firearm or firearms to any person who is not a federally licensed firearm dealer shall, before selling or transferring the firearms, contact the Department of State Police with the transferee’s or purchaser’s Firearm Owner’s Identification Card number to determine the validity of the transferee’s or purchaser’s Firearm Owner’s Identification Card. This subsection shall not be effective until January 1, 2014. The Department of State Police may adopt rules concerning… Read more »
If we can get this AND remove SBRs/SBSs and suppressors from the NFA purview, it would be a good start.
A bit of history: pre-Jim Crow. Few people have heard of the Union League formed in Chicago in 1862. It became a political bullying machine in the north during the War Between the States to silence anti-invasion/war sentiment. After the war, the League expanded and invaded the south to reconstruct the minds of southerners about the “virtues” of the Republican Party at that time. The League formed carpetbagger governments, armed freedmen (former Condederates were not allowed firearms-gun control-racism against white southerners set up by northern empire builders) and these groups were militants who did reprehensible acts (arson, theft, rape, murder… Read more »
Mark: Your comment about constitutional amendments, the 5th and 10th is interesting. Respecting your comment on “states rights”, however the referenced amendments are amendments to the national constitution, which grants or recognizes a previously existing right, whichever you like, to arms in the 2nd amendment. It appears that such provision would preclude the “states rights” argument, a take you might disagree with. Let me know if you would. Otherwise, as I mentioned in an earlier post, it strikes me that all this foolishness by those in power who desire to retain that powerover the generally law abiding populace is simply… Read more »
I am all for Constitutional Carry….absolutely!
But for myself, I don’t want to deal with each individual states varying carry laws. Recognizing a permit is one thing, but every state differs on what is granted and required via their permits. I can’t be responsible, nor expected, to know all of the differences in several states. I live in a nice big state. I really have no reason to leave it. I do want Const. Carry for the benefit of the entire country though.
I don’t have much of a problem with differeing state laws, although some states allow carry in bars when not drinking alcohol, others will happily plop you in the Crowbar Hotel if caught inside with a holsterd handgun even if your BAC is 00.0000. It is easy enough to find out each state’s restrictions, but that should also be made easier by having all state’s possession restrictions available in one website. Let’s see, in Utah you can’t carry in church, I guess the mormons don’t want anyone doing a shootemup in their digs…. Montana you can’t carry inside a bank.… Read more »
Illinois does not honor my Iowa permit, even though my state allows Illinoisans to carry here. When I have to travel through IL, I make it a point not to spend any more money than is absolutely necessary, especially in Cook County.
My 2nd A stops at the river going into NJ. And at the Delaware and Maryland state line…Being completely surrounded is no fun. That’s not to say I don’t CC when going thru these states…Just frustrating to have to live under oppression from ANTI-Constitutional state govts. Hopefully this will end…SOON. Hope your Thanksgiving went well my friend…
Illinois, the state where I was raised until the early 1970s WAS an open carry state . Carrying concealed was a misdemeanor. The Chicago decided to ban open carry statewide. Eventually the 7th Circuit Court told the state that they had 180 days to pass some sort of constitutional gun law or they would have no gun law. It took the 180 days + a few more, but they did pass “shall issue” concealed carry despite Chicago wanting “may issue.” Resident license is $150, non-resident is $300, but there is a catch. The language in the law says”substantially similar” which… Read more »
I have made it a strong point to simpy not GO into Illionois. No, I will not even book a flight that has a stopover in Chicago. I don’t even want my share of the airport taxes to go into the economy of that state. It is particulalry dangerous in the winter, when weather can force cancellations of flights, thus stranding fliers and forcing us to take possession of our checked baggage with their lawully checked handguns… which none of us can possess inside Illinois. New York and New Jersey are about the same, with the added peril in New… Read more »
It would be nice to go from my home state of Pa to the state of a Connecticut where I hold a permit to carry, without pulling over on the side of the road to take my gun off unload it lock it in my safe . Then hide my hollow points, because Jersey does not allow them in their state. Then tip toe threw N.Y. And then once I get in Connecticut pull over unlock my safe take out my gun and make it hot all over again. Which I think is dangerous at times . Then do it… Read more »