While Texas and South Carolina are among states making it easier for law-abiding residents to carry firearms, states like Oregon are making it easier for local governments to impose gun control measures. The left and the right invoke drivers’ licenses as an example but come to completely different conclusions.
Summary
Texas lawmakers are moving a bill that would allow Texans to carry a firearm with no permitting requirements.
- Texas’ efforts, dubbed “constitutional carry” by advocates, specifies that one must not be prohibited by state and federal law to own a firearm, meaning Texans purchasing a firearm legally are still subject to the federal background check.
- On the other hand, Oregon is moving in the opposite direction, with their legislature passing gun-control measures advocates call “safe-storage” legislation, requiring all Oregonians to lock up their firearms when not in use, as well as a bill that allows municipalities to pass their own gun-control rules.
- South Carolina is moving a bill that allows state residents licensed for concealed-carry to carry their firearm in the open.
- Vice paints second amendment advocates as “anti-government extremists, militias, and right-wing politicians” “stoking fear of a looming gun grab”, viewing the efforts as an attempt to rebuke President Biden.
- The Economist took the same view as Vice, calling “permitless carry” “extremist” and comparing the constitutional right to the licensing procedures for driving or cutting hair.
- The Federalist argued that as the US Supreme Court is set to take up and rule on a concealed-carry question, nationwide reciprocity should be the next federal legislative goal, meaning every state must recognize the validity and ability of Americans licensed to carry a concealed firearm similar to how drivers licenses are recognized nationwide.
- RedState questioned licensing requirements by explaining the intricate maze of state laws that interconnect various groups of states in terms of reciprocal or similar laws, also noting Tennessee recently became a “constitutional carry” state.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
