Concealed Carry in the United States

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Table of Contents

The Review of the History and Context of the Problem
The Process of Policy Making
Support for Reciprocity
Opponents to Reciprocity
Conclusion
References

American citizens have carried firearms for protection since the nation was founded. People who fall under conceal carry protection have the legal right to possess and bear weapons for protection under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Carrying of weapon would make it easy for citizens to defend themselves while traveling across the country, just as they would in their home state if there was national reciprocity for concealed weapons permits. When obtaining a concealed carry permit, each of the fifty states in America has rules and requirements. For reciprocity to be effective across the United States, even those with the strictest requirements would have to recognize licenses issued in states with the laxest requirements. H.R. 38 (115th) and S. 446 aim to end the reciprocity debate and make it a national standard (Congress.gov, 2022). The complexity of current laws makes it difficult for the police and the general public to comply with them.

Since they are currently not considered like a driver’s license, Americans must evaluate which states honor their permits as they plan excursions or travel for work more regularly. The police forces face a similar issue because they must be familiar with each municipal that their statuses honor. Visitors and tourists can defend themselves and others in every state that recognizes their concealed carry permits. People who oppose both concealed carry reciprocity and concealed carry, in general, would argue that protections should be left to the qualified professionals the police. Every state that is a part of the United States of America should provide reciprocity for all licenses issued nationwide.

The Review of the History and Context of the Problem

Understanding the conditions for the policies that are currently in effect, as well as the history of not only the regulations imposed by lawmakers but also the case law founded by the court systems of the United States, is necessary to comprehend concealed carry, mutuality, and the controversy that envelops the topics. Additionally, this examination will include both perspectives on reciprocity and concealed carry in America, including those who support and oppose the issue.

The Process of Policy Making

Concealed carry prohibitions were the first laws on the issue to be passed, and they were initially implemented in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813. Other states followed during the 19th century. Since the revolver had not been invented when many of these regulations were enacted, edged weapons were the main issue. Although the revolver was the subject of numerous bans after its creation, its origins lay elsewhere. However, during the 19th century, laws against carrying hidden weapons were still passed. By the end of the antebellum era, concealed carry was prohibited in almost all Southern states.

Although not definitively established, it is widely assumed that such laws were primarily passed out of concern for the possibility of militant abolitionists like John Brown and formerly enslaved people carrying guns. In the 1830s, Indiana implemented a similar rule, ostensibly for the same purpose. The first Supreme Court judgment to deal with the subject was Robertson v. Baldwin, which found that concealment bans did not violate a person’s right to keep and bear weapons (Devins & Baum, 2020). Fair enough, many jurisdictions permit open carry of weapons but not concealed carry. Until very recently, federal courts hardly ever addressed the Second Amendment; the matter was usually referred to the various states.

Several states, mainly in the South, established laws outlawing concealed carry during Reconstruction. Due to the 14th Amendment, these laws did not clearly state that they were not to be applied to white people but were frequently intended to disarm African-Americans. According to associate justice of the Florida Supreme Court Rivers H. Buford, Florida law prohibits concealed carry (Fridel, 2020).. The independent white kinsmen of this state shall have the right to possess and carry weapons for their common protection, according to the Florida constitution of 1838. In 1976 in Georgia, concealed carry licensing and legislation began to take off (Fridel, 2020). Zell Miller, the state’s lieutenant governor, proposed a measure approved by the Georgian legislature.

The Probate Court Judge, an elected representative who does not work in law enforcement, was responsible for overseeing the shall-issue permit procedure. Indiana started the trend for shall-issue laws in 1980, followed by Maine, North Dakota, and South Dakota in 1985 (Dong & Wilson, 2022). Florida switched from may-issue to shall-issue in 1987. Alaska removed its legislation against the concealed carry of weapons in 2003, making it the second state to allow so. Unlike Vermont, it maintained its licensing system so locals could apply for licenses from states that demand a residential carry permit for compatibility reasons.

Several draconian laws governing handguns were passed at the start of the 20th century, most notably New York’s Sullivan Law of 1911, which demanded permission to own a firearm. However, licensure was made possible by “Sullivan legislation,” which many other states passed (Zevin et al., 2020). Unlicensed concealed carry was rendered a misdemeanor thanks to the Sullivan laws and Uniform acts passed by several states. However, they also established the limiting may-issue licensure that is still in place in some places. A small number of states, though, had relatively lax licensing requirements.

The first “shall-issue” statute was enacted in New Hampshire in 1923, setting the precedent that applicants for permits must be granted them if they satisfy legal conditions (Zevin et al., 2020). Washington State did the same in 1961, and Connecticut did the same in 1969. The District of Columbia v. Heller case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Law court in 2008, was the first to declare that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Adjustment granted a person’s right to own and carry weapons for self-protection(Malcolm, 2020).. After Alaska and Vermont, Arizona became the third state to allow constitutional carry in 2010. Five states adopted constitutional carry in 2021, a record year: Texas, Montana, Utah, Iowa, and Tennessee.

Support for Reciprocity

As per the findings by John R. Lott Jr., PhD, legal concealed carry would have significantly decreased the number of violent crimes between 1977 and 1992 (English, 2021). It is estimated that concealed carry would have averted about 1,570 killings, 4,177 assaults, 60,000 fierce assaults, and 12,000 burglaries (English, 2021). By quoting a 1983 study by James Wright and Peter Rossi, opponents argue that concealed carry encourages gun crime by pointing out that 75% of crooks who commit crimes with firearms do so because there is always a potential that their victim may be armed.

The Second Amendment is not unrestricted, according to the Supreme Court’s order in Heller (Malcolm, 2020). However Justice Ginsburg noted that [s]urely a most familiar meaning is, as the Constitution’s Second Amendment indicates[s]: ‘wear, stand, or convey upon the individual or in the clothing (Malcolm, 2020). The Second Amendment also convey purpose of being equipped and prepared for defensive or offensive intervention in an attack scenario (Malcolm, 2020). Heller established the people’s freedom and made the Second Amendment’s application to the federal government obvious. McDonald v. Chicago, 2010, which proved that the Fourteenth Adjustment extended the Second Amendment rights to the nations for the customary, was not heard by the Supreme Court until two years later in 2010 (Lash, 2021).

Opponents to Reciprocity

An individual has 4.5 times probability of being murdered during an attack when they are carrying a firearm than when they are not, according to a peer-reviewed research issued in the American Journal of Public Health. A key component of nationwide mutuality is that laws from states with lower standards will be imposed on states with higher standards. For instance, if someone obtains a permit in Georgia, where no skills are required, California would honor it even though it has a stringent training requirement, effectively reducing the impact of those laws.

Conclusion

All 50 states in America have officially authorized open carry of concealed handguns since 2013. The Second Adjustment defends obscured carry, according to advocates, who claim that it deters criminality, makes individuals and the public harmless, and guards women and minorities who cannot always depend on the police for protection. According to opponents of the practice, the Second Amendment does not allow concealed carry, which also asserts that only trained police officers should be responsible for ensuring the public’s safety. The inappropriate use of firearms was decreased by the conceal and carry laws. Relaxed concealed carry regulations could have several consequences related to a rise in the population’s level of armed possession. Every significant area of public policy is the subject of debate and political manipulation to some extent. Therefore, the law will support white people rather than black people.

References

Devins, N. (2020). The Supreme Court and Elites. In L. Baum (Ed.), The Company They Keep: How Partisan Divisions Came to the Supreme Court (pp. 15–58). essay, Oxford University Press.

Dong, B., & Wilson, D. (2022). 021 state gun laws and youth handgun carrying in the United States. [Abstract]. Web.

English, W. (2021). The right to carry has not increased crime: Improving an old debate through better data on permit growth over time. SSRN. Web.

Fridel, E. E. (2020). Comparing the impact of household gun ownership and concealed carry legislation on the frequency of mass shootings and firearms homicide. Justice Quarterly, 38(5), 1–24. Web.

Lash, K. T. (2021). Re-speaking the Bill of Rights: A new doctrine of Incorporation. SSRN Electronic Journal, 97(4). Web.

Malcolm, J. L. (2020). Self defense, an unalienable right in a time of peril: Protected and preserved by the Second Amendment. SSRN Electronic Journal. Web.

Rep. Hudson, Richard [R-NC-8]. (2022). H.R.38 – Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 – congress. Congress.gov. Web.

Zevin, A., Walsh, S., Gundlach, J., & Carey, I. (2020). Building a new grid without new legislation: A path to revitalizing Federal Transmission Authorities. SSRN Electronic Journal. Web.

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