The Patriot Post® · Gun Rights Should Cross State Lines

Jeff Jacoby: “Down the street or across the country, a valid driver’s license is all you need to lawfully get behind the wheel of a car. If you’ve met your state’s conditions to be issued a license – passed the test, submitted your fingerprints, paid the fee – there’s not a state in the country that won’t honor it. A valid license to carry a firearm should be treated the same way. … The case for reciprocity ought to be just as compelling when it comes to carry permits for guns. Indeed, more compelling: The Bill of Rights makes no reference to driving, but it does command that ‘the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’ Constitutional liberties don’t evaporate at state borders. If your driver’s license is valid everywhere, the validity of your gun permit should go without saying. … States have always had broad leeway to make their own public policy; the Constitution’s ‘full faith and credit’ principle doesn’t insist that all state laws be homogenized. But states cannot just disallow Second Amendment rights exercised in good faith by honest citizens from other states. The driver’s license in your wallet is accepted everywhere as prima facie evidence that you are competent to drive. The concealed-carry permit you keep right next to it should be given the same respect.”