Posted on 11/23/2011 5:28:07 AM PST by marktwain
Congress is expected to vote Tuesday on whether concealed carry gun licenses should be treated the same way we treat driver's licenses for cars. With 245 co-sponsors in the House, the only question is whether there are the 290 votes necessary to override President Obama's veto.
For decades, treating licenses for guns like those for cars was something that gun control advocates wanted.
In his 2000 presidential campaign, Al Gore promised: "We require a license to drive a car in this nation in order to keep unsafe drivers off the road. As president, I will fight for a national requirement that every state issue photo licenses [for handgun buyers]. We should require a license to own a handgun so people who shouldn't have them, can't get them."
Handgun Control Inc., as well as its later incarnation as the Brady Campaign, has pushed licensing plan since the 1970s. But what would this actually mean for gun control? After all, what does a driver's license let you do?
You don't need a driver's license to drive a car on private property, merely on public roads. And once you get a license, you are allowed to drive any car on any public road anywhere in the United States. You are responsible for obeying the different traffic regulations in different states, but as long as you do, you are fine.
Currently gun laws are much more restrictive than those that apply to cars and drivers. Not only do many states regulate guns when they are on your own property, a license to carry a concealed handgun is much more restrictive regarding when you travel outside of your state.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Last year, I drove from North Carolina to Chicago to Los Angeles and back to North Carolina. The only states in which I could NOT carry concealed were Illinois and California. Guess where most of the crime is.
Sorry folks, have to strongly disagree with this scheme.
Lott’s comparison to the average driver’s license is his mistake.
Let’ compare concealed carry to a CDL. Once the fedgov got it’s fingers into the commercial driver’s license business, things went straight to hell. Regulation upon regulation. Commerce Clause don’t you know.
A fedgov regulated national concealed carry plan would eventually be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator: Illinois and New Jersey.
Why hell, they might even do a power grab and tell the states that concealed carry is no longer a state issue, its a federal issue because it involves crossing state lines, and almighty Commerce Clause. (think CDL)
Bet me it won’t happen.
I trust the states to agree among themselves on this issue, you let the fedgov in and you will regret it, deeply.
Let a fedgov bureacrat into this mix and you WILL rue the day.
Representative Justin Amash (R-MI), who voted against the bill, addressed this last point in a statement, calling HR 822 “an unconstitutional bill that improperly applies the Commerce Clause to concealed carry licensing.”
Another freshman Representative, Rob Woodall (R-Ga.), noted that the right to carry a concealed firearm is already protected by the Second Amendment.
“If the Second Amendment protects my rights to carry my concealed weapon from state to state to state, I don’t need another federal law,” Rep. Woodall said. He went on to remind his colleagues of the original intent of the right to keep and bear arms.
“”We should require a license to own a handgun so people who shouldn’t have them, can’t get them.”””
Gosh Al - I realize this was a long time ago but shouldn’t people be required to show picture ID when voting also - so people who shouldn’t vote, don’t vote????
Nah! Nothing more hypocritical than a dem.
You make a most compelling argument.
Leave it to the States.
What's wrong with having free speech across state lines?
What's wrong with having cruel & unusual punishment depending on which state you live in?
What's wrong with denying women the right to vote when they cross state lines?
What's wrong with enslaving non-whites when they cross state lines?
What's wrong with allowing unwarranted search and seizure when crossing state lines?
What's wrong with putting people of Japanese or German ancestry back into internment camps?
THe law isn’t a “national concealed carry plan”. It is a law that says that states must honor concealed carry permits from other states, if the states have their own concealed carry permits.
It doesn’t set the rules for concealed carry, it just makes it clear that concealed carry permits can be used when you drive across our country.
I’m not sure what “law” makes every state honor the drivers licenses of other states. Has any state ever tried to NOT accept drivers licenses from other states, or is there a federal law already that says DLs are good throughout the country?
Why should a state be allowed to tell non-residents that they can’t carry weapons anyway? The 2nd amendment specifically says that the PEOPLE have a right to BEAR arms, and the 14th amendment clearly states that federal RIGHTS cannot be abridged by the state. Maybe that was a bad amendment, but unlike how it is usually used, it WAS meant to ensure that actual RIGHTS which the constitution spelled out as being reserved for the people could not be abridged by state law.
If I travel, a carry permit isn’t that useful if I can’t take my gun across the state line.
The leftist aka progressive gun haters hate this. Funny how the leftist aka progressive gun haters constantly demand gun control laws. That criminals never obey. Name one gun control law that has stopped a crime.
Typical liberal response: "But you can't KILL anyone with a car....Oh, wait..."
This is a big issue for interstate truckers.
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