Gun rights advocates and sheriffs across the country support congressional legislation to allow concealed carry reciprocity, which would allow gun owners to cross state lines without running into blue state legal trouble.
The Crime Prevention Research Center found that more than 86% of police chiefs and sheriffs support “national reciprocity.” What that means is that a concealed carry permit holder from Arizona could cross into California and continue to carry. That would be a boon for people traveling alone or going to crime-invested cities.
The Gun Owners of America (GOA) insisted, “There is NO reason the National Reciprocity Act should not be passed by Congress! [-] 86%+ of police chiefs & sheriffs support national reciprocity [-] 90%+ of officers support concealed handgun laws [-] Research finds that letting people carry concealed reduces crime.”
This is entirely reasonable, as anti-gun laws only prevent victims from being able to protect themselves; they never prevent dangerous criminals from obtaining weapons. As of 2018, 94% of mass shootings since 1950 had occurred in gun-free zones. For women especially, there is no tool so likely to even out a fight with an attacker as a gun.
The Washington Times reported on March 10:
Imagine a single woman driving across state lines at night, hoping she won’t become a crime victim if her car breaks down. Or a truck driver as he travels across the country with valuable merchandise. They can quickly run into trouble in states such as California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, New Jersey or Oregon, among the 10 states that don’t recognize concealed handgun permits from other states. Similarly, nine states don’t grant or make it difficult for nonresidents to get permits.
A bill before Congress would change that and let people who can legally carry concealed handguns in their states carry them across state lines… Permit holders are extremely law-abiding, losing their licenses for firearm-related violations at rates of thousandths or tens of thousandths of 1 percentage point… Two groups that benefit the most from carrying guns are the likeliest victims of crime (poor Blacks in high-crime urban areas) and physically weaker people (women and the elderly).
And, unsurprisingly, over the last decade, those are the groups that have seen the largest increases in concealed carry permits, particularly among black Americans.
With 21.5 million Americans holding concealed handgun permits, and many more concealed carrying in states that don’t require the permits, the legislation could essentially establish a citizen peacekeeping force across the nation. The imperial Japanese were reluctant to invade America during World War II because so many Americans were gun owners. If only we could have that deterrent on domestic criminals now, especially with the illegal alien crime wave and radical leftist violence.
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As Thomas Jefferson wisely observed about restrictions on gun ownership, “For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” The Founders valued the Second Amendment so highly for a reason. There are many examples of anti-victim gun laws in leftist “gun control” havens, such as Chicago, where residents have an estimated 1-in-15 chance of getting shot by age 40. One of the most effective ways to ensure citizens can defend themselves and deter violent crime is by making national reciprocity the law.
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