Great column from Bob Owens
Editor’s Note: This column originally appeared in the June issue of Townhall Magazine.
I have two state-issued permits in my wallet.
My state-issued driver’s license allows me to get into a car and drive to visit friends in other states. If I decide to drive to visit my friend Pablo in Arizona, or Jacqueline in New York, my North Carolina-issued license will be honored by every law enforcement agency I may encounter along the way.
If I were to visit Pablo, I would not need to obtain additional driver’s licenses to drive through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. If I were to visit Jacqueline, I would not need to obtain additional licenses for Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. No matter where I drive in the United States, I have reciprocity with my driver’s license, under the presumption that if I am deemed competent to drive in one state, then I am competent enough to drive in every state.
If I even brought up the idea that I might need a driver’s license in each individual state, reasonable people would look at me as if I might need my current license revoked, at least until I’m checked over thoroughly by mental health professionals.
The other kind of state-issued permit that I have in my wallet is my North Carolina concealed carry permit, which enables me to carry a concealed handgun in the state of North Carolina, and a number of other states, but not all of them. While North Carolina has logically and automatically recognized the concealed carry permits of every other state issuing a concealed carry permit since 2011, only 36 states have reciprocity with North Carolina.
When I drive through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to see Pablo, I would legally be allowed to carry my concealed handgun and have my permit recognized by each and every one of those states, as each of these state attorneys general or legislature has made an agreement with North Carolina on a state-by-state basis.
Law enforcement officers in each of these states would check to ensure that my concealed carry permit and driver’s license were valid, that we did in fact have reciprocity in our concealed carry agreements, and they’d send me on my way.
If I went to see Jacqueline, however, I would face the very real probability of being thrown violently to the ground and handcuffed (if not shot) in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York for carrying that same handgun, with the same permits.
Am I more of a threat when I cross state lines? Does the air in the Northeast lead to violent psychosis that erases all my training and makes me prone to random acts of homicide?
Of course it doesn’t.
Some think that what we lack on the federal level is the sort of “common sense” reciprocity agreements for concealed carry permitting that we do for driver’s licenses.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has offered Senate Bill 1908: The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2014, in hopes of rectifying this glaring gap in our state-level reciprocity laws. Cornyn and the bill’s other co-sponsors hope to ensure that citizens won’t face the sort of persecution that Florida resident John Filippidis did as he traveled through rabidly anti-gun Maryland.
Filippidis had done nothing wrong before he was pulled over after being tailed for 10 minutes by an overzealous Maryland Transportation Authority police officer. The officer made Filippidis step out of his vehicle, searched him, and demanded, “You own a gun, where is it?”
Other law enforcement officers arrived, interrogated him, and searched his vehicle over the course of the next 90 minutes, simply because the trooper discovered he had a valid Florida concealed carry permit and hoped to find the gun and throw Filippidis in jail. Presumably, a national reciprocity bill would end this sort of persecution by unreasonable police officers.
But is a reciprocity bill actually needed for what should be a constitutional right to carry a firearm for self-defense, regardless of where a law-abiding citizen happens to travel?
There are many who feel that while Cornyn’s bill is sympathetic to the plight of gun owners, it both betrays the theory of constitutional carry (that the Second Amendment is all the justification needed to carry a firearm, in the open or concealed), and that it could be a “Trojan Horse” for follow-on laws that could mandate that all states must require a prohibitive amount of training, liability insurance, or other hurdles imposed to make concealed carry as onerous as possible.
In the end, citizens shouldn’t need a permit to exercise a constitutional right. Reciprocity to travel from state to state while armed should need no more justification than the 27 words of the Second Amendment, which conclude, “… the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” •
Bob Owens is editor of BearingArms.com
Source: http://townhall.com/tipsheet/townhallmagazine/2014/06/12/the-second-amendment-should-trump-state-lines-n1842003
JANESVILLE—A man whose handgun was found in a softball outfield at the Janesville Youth Sports Complex said he is embarrassed and vows to keep his weapon locked in his car next time.
A player found the loaded, .380 semiautomatic handgun Sunday during a game, said Aaron Ellis, president of Janesville Youth Baseball and a Janesville police sergeant.
The player turned it over to the umpire. One of the coaches was an off-duty police officer, who called police, Ellis said.
The possibility of banning guns at games was discussed at a Janesville Youth Baseball board meeting this week.
Ellis said the situation is complicated because it appears state law does not allow cities to ban concealed carry in parks, but the baseball group leases Youth Sports Complex fields from the city.
“My choice would be to be able to post it ‘no concealed carry.’ If that option is available to us, I think that’s the way we’re going to go,” Ellis said.
Roger Gransee of Whitewater said he was acting as catcher as his granddaughter warmed up for her 12-and-under fastpitch game Sunday when he lost the handgun.
“I am so embarrassed by this, it’s unreal. It was just a careless mistake,” Gransee told The Gazette.
Gransee has a permit under the state’s concealed-carry law, and concealed carry is not banned in Janesville parks, including the sports complex, police Lt. Keith Lawver said.
The handgun was turned over to a Janesville police officer at the ball field at 5:28 p.m. Sunday, according to the police report.
A detective continues to investigate and will consult with the district attorney’s office about the potential for charges, Lawver said.
The city prohibits concealed carry in city buildings “and structures that contain a sign prohibiting the carrying of weapons and firearms,” according to the city website.
According to the State Bar of Wisconsin, municipalities are not allowed to ban firearms on government lands, which includes parks.
Guns can be banned in park shelters and other buildings, however.
Gransee said he usually keeps his gun on his waistband, but he had taken off his shirt on the warm day and didn’t want it showing through his T-shirt, so he clipped the holstered gun in his boot. He suspects the gun slipped out as he was kneeling. He didn’t notice it was gone until he arrived home that evening.
Gransee said he returned to the ball field early the next morning but could not find it. He continued to retrace his steps and finally called police.
Gransee figured someone found the gun and turned it in.
“Thank goodness somebody did,” he said.
Gransee said he doesn’t talk about the fact that he carries a weapon, so few know he does. He carries it in support of Second Amendment rights, he said, and because he has a job that requires him to pick up parts in Waukesha and Milwaukee.
“People are getting shot in Milwaukee and Waukesha all the time. I feel more comfortable that way,” he said.
Gransee said he checks for signs forbidding firearms wherever he goes. He saw a sign at the Youth Sports Complex that forbids alcohol, smoking and pets, he said, but it didn’t mention guns.
Nevertheless, the incident has made him think, and he said in the future, he will lock the gun in his car when at sporting events, as he does when he enters buildings where firearms are banned.
It wasn’t clear who picked up the gun at the ball field. Lawver said children should never touch a firearm they find.
If an adult finds a gun, and it’s safe to do so, they should leave it where it is and contact police, Lawver advised.
As for those who carry firearms, “you need to be very responsible and ensure that the gun is in a safe place at all times and not left lying around where any other person, and particularly children, would have access to it,” Lawver said.
- See more at: http://www.gazettextra.com/20140612/gun_found_on_ballfield_was_concealed_carried#sthash.swp5VxE5.dpuf
JANESVILLE—A man whose handgun was found in a softball outfield at the Janesville Youth Sports Complex said he is embarrassed and vows to keep his weapon locked in his car next time.
A player found the loaded, .380 semiautomatic handgun Sunday during a game, said Aaron Ellis, president of Janesville Youth Baseball and a Janesville police sergeant.
The player turned it over to the umpire. One of the coaches was an off-duty police officer, who called police, Ellis said.
The possibility of banning guns at games was discussed at a Janesville Youth Baseball board meeting this week.
Ellis said the situation is complicated because it appears state law does not allow cities to ban concealed carry in parks, but the baseball group leases Youth Sports Complex fields from the city.
“My choice would be to be able to post it ‘no concealed carry.’ If that option is available to us, I think that’s the way we’re going to go,” Ellis said.
Roger Gransee of Whitewater said he was acting as catcher as his granddaughter warmed up for her 12-and-under fastpitch game Sunday when he lost the handgun.
“I am so embarrassed by this, it’s unreal. It was just a careless mistake,” Gransee told The Gazette.
Gransee has a permit under the state’s concealed-carry law, and concealed carry is not banned in Janesville parks, including the sports complex, police Lt. Keith Lawver said.
The handgun was turned over to a Janesville police officer at the ball field at 5:28 p.m. Sunday, according to the police report.
A detective continues to investigate and will consult with the district attorney’s office about the potential for charges, Lawver said.
The city prohibits concealed carry in city buildings “and structures that contain a sign prohibiting the carrying of weapons and firearms,” according to the city website.
According to the State Bar of Wisconsin, municipalities are not allowed to ban firearms on government lands, which includes parks.
Guns can be banned in park shelters and other buildings, however.
Gransee said he usually keeps his gun on his waistband, but he had taken off his shirt on the warm day and didn’t want it showing through his T-shirt, so he clipped the holstered gun in his boot. He suspects the gun slipped out as he was kneeling. He didn’t notice it was gone until he arrived home that evening.
Gransee said he returned to the ball field early the next morning but could not find it. He continued to retrace his steps and finally called police.
Gransee figured someone found the gun and turned it in.
“Thank goodness somebody did,” he said.
Gransee said he doesn’t talk about the fact that he carries a weapon, so few know he does. He carries it in support of Second Amendment rights, he said, and because he has a job that requires him to pick up parts in Waukesha and Milwaukee.
“People are getting shot in Milwaukee and Waukesha all the time. I feel more comfortable that way,” he said.
Gransee said he checks for signs forbidding firearms wherever he goes. He saw a sign at the Youth Sports Complex that forbids alcohol, smoking and pets, he said, but it didn’t mention guns.
Nevertheless, the incident has made him think, and he said in the future, he will lock the gun in his car when at sporting events, as he does when he enters buildings where firearms are banned.
It wasn’t clear who picked up the gun at the ball field. Lawver said children should never touch a firearm they find.
If an adult finds a gun, and it’s safe to do so, they should leave it where it is and contact police, Lawver advised.
As for those who carry firearms, “you need to be very responsible and ensure that the gun is in a safe place at all times and not left lying around where any other person, and particularly children, would have access to it,” Lawver said.
- See more at: http://www.gazettextra.com/20140612/gun_found_on_ballfield_was_concealed_carried#sthash.swp5VxE5.dpuf