Sunday, October 5, 2014

Shotgun Wedding: Gun Law Reciprocity Across State Lines?

From Pirates Cove, home of the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and the daily "If All You See Is. . ." a bit of thoughtful advice to gun rights advocates on how to approach the question of state gun laws unequally restricting the 2nd Amendment rights of people to own and carry weapons.  Use the same argument that seems to be working for same sex marriage:

Court Rules Missouri Must Recognize Gay Marriages From Other States – What About Gun Reciprocity?
Liberals should be very careful in opening this door, because it could easily be applied to gun permits
(Buzzfeed) Missouri must recognize the marriages of same-sex couples that were granted elsewhere, state Judge Dale Youngs ruled on Friday.
“[T]o the extent these laws prohibit plaintiffs’ legally contracted marriages from other states from being recognized here, they are wholly irrational, do not rest upon any reasonable basis, and are purely arbitrary,” Youngs wrote.
The ruling followed a hearing in September on the case, which was brought by 10 same-sex couples represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The same could be said about gun laws in many Left leaning States, regarding “irrational, no reasonable basis, and purely arbitrary”. The judge uses the 14th Amendment to make his case, pointing towards “equal protection”. If Liberals want to open this door, let’s open it. If someone has a concealed carry permit, according to this order they would be fully allowed to carry in exactly the same way in, say, New York, as they would in their home state.

Republican/non-gun grabby States should go further, and provide inexpensive permits for open carry, which would mean Democrat/gun-grabby States would be required to allow those citizens with the permits to open carry. Otherwise, the gun-grabby States would be in violation of the 14th Amendment. Also, the Full Faith And Credit Clause (Article IV, Section 1). It’s time for Republicans/Conservatives to turn the tables.
I think it's optimistic to imagine that liberal judges will be thunderstruck by the obvious parallels and suddenly decide either to vastly expand the rights of gun owners to carry their guns from one state to another without fear of being arrested and jailed, or on the otherhand, suddenly deciding that gay marriage is a matter for states to decide after all. However, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to confront them with the argument in court and force them to put their rationalizations for their inconsistency on paper.

No comments:

Post a Comment