The Dilemma Continues
In regards to interstate reciprocity of citizen firearm carry permits issued by individual states, there is currently a dilemma in desperate need of some remedy.
There is an abundance of anecdotal evidence that demonstrates the fact that statutory law cannot protect individual citizen's from incarnate evil; hence, we are responsible for our own individual protection.
If you are a law-abiding citizen, having to choose between being prepared or being legal can be a very difficult, and precarious, choice. To whom do we own the honor of having to make that choice? Though, when you weigh the potential outcomes of each of those choices, it becomes a little easier to make a decision. But still, it is a decision that a citizen should not be burdened with.
David Kopel and Joseph Greenlee make an argument that Congress should use constitutional power to force states to honor not only the permits, but the civil right that is enumerated and guaranteed by the United States Constitution.
A few weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 with bipartisan support. The Act would allow persons eligible to carry a concealed firearm in their home state to carry in other states as well. Opponents contend that the Act violates federalism. Actually, the Act is well within congressional powers under the Fourteenth Amendment. That Amendment was enacted specifically to give Congress the power to act against state infringements of national civil rights.
Section one of the 14th Amendment forbids states to violate civil rights. Section five of the Amendment grants Congress “the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” Enacted during Reconstruction, the Fourteenth Amendment was a remedy to ex-Confederate states denying freedmen the right to arms and other civil rights.
Not only should citizen's have the right to uninfringed interstate travel, but they should also have the right to protect themselves along the way.
The ball is laying in the Senate's court!
/fl