✪ Crossing A State Line Should Not Cost You Your Right To Self Defense

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magine a woman driving across state lines alone at night, fearful that her car might break down and leave her vulnerable. Or perhaps a truck driver hauling valuable cargo across the country. In states such as California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Oregon; five of the ten states which refuse to recognize concealed handgun permits from other states, these travelers can find themselves defenseless in potentially serious situations. Nine other states also either deny non-residents permits altogether or make them extremely difficult to obtain.

Last week, President Trump again called for passage of national concealed carry reciprocity. The legislation would allow anyone legally permitted to carry a concealed handgun in their home state to carry across state lines throughout the United States in the same manner Americans now use their driver’s licenses nationwide. Such legislation would directly affect millions of law-abiding Americans.

Much of the ongoing gun-control debate centers on hypothetical risks. However, with reciprocity, we won’t have to speculate. We already know how the 21.5 million concealed handgun permit holders in the United States behave. In addition, most Americans already benefit from state permit reciprocity. The average state recognizes permits from 30 other states, allowing permit holders to travel legally with their firearms.

Last year, when the House Judiciary Committee passed national reciprocity along party lines, Democrats also opposed legislation that would allow current and retired law enforcement officers with at least ten years of service to carry firearms in facilities open to the public; including schools, while traveling across the country. Given the Democrat fear that allowing experienced current or retired law enforcement officers to carry would endanger public safety, it comes as no surprise they also oppose allowing civilians to carry across state lines.

Congressional opponents of national reciprocity warn permit holders will commit crimes but never cite actual evidence to support that claim. The facts actually point in the opposite direction. Concealed handgun permit holders are extraordinarily law-abiding citizens; and states revoke their permits for firearm-related violations at rates which measured in thousandth, or even ten-thousandths, of one percent. Police officers rarely commit firearm crimes, yet non LEO permit holders lose their permits for firearm offenses at only about one-twelfth the rate at which police are convicted of firearm-related crimes.

“This legislation is a dramatic infringement on states’ rights,” claims Emma Brown, executive director of the gun-control group Giffords, echoing a common criticism. Yet those same organizations routinely advocate for federal gun-control laws which specifically override state policy choices.

Opponents also claimed a national reciprocity policy would confuse travelers about which gun laws are applicable in each state and lead to more arrests. However, reciprocity already exists in one form or another across much of the country, and there is no evidence showing out-of-state permit holders create such problems. Indeed, the same situation exists for drivers when they cross state lines: they are required to follow the driving regulations for the state they enter.

Critics also argue permit standards vary from state to state. Yet no evidence shows states with less restrictive permitting systems experience a higher number of permit revocations.

Despite these fears, more than 86 percent of police chiefs and sheriffs support national reciprocity; and over 90 percent of rank-and-file officers support concealed carry laws. These officers see firsthand how concealed carry works in practice. They understand police deter crime, but they also know they often arrive on the scene arrive after the crime has already been committed. Potential victims deserve the right to self defense first. Consistent with that experience, the overwhelming weight of academic research demonstrates allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns greatly reduces crime.

If the opponents of reciprocity could identify even a few dozens cases in which out-of-state permit holders created any serious problems after many decades of tens of millions of Americans already legally carrying concealed handguns, perhaps their concerns would deserve consideration. However, they cannot. Such cases remain exceedingly rare, so there is no need for Americans to guess whether gun-control advocates’ concerns are justified.

Carrying a firearm for protection provides the greatest benefit and advantage to protect those who face the greatest physical disadvantage; women and the elderly, and to those who are at the highest risk of becoming the victims of violent crime, including many poor black residents who already live in high-crime neighborhoods. Not surprisingly, these groups have accounted for the largest percentage of growth in permit ownership over the past decade. Between 2015 and 2024, permits held by women grew 112 percent faster than those held by men, while permits held by black Americans grew 284 percent faster than those held by whites.

Real life is not the movies, and most women defend themselves against several larger, stronger men simply by physically overpowering them, no matter how well trained they may be. Men generally possess greater upper-body strength and speed.

However, a firearm completely changes the balance of power in that equation; and provides women with a far more effective & advantageous means of self-defense. If an attacker has already managed to close the distance enough in a situation to seize a woman’s firearm, she is already in grave danger regardless.

Peer-reviewed research finds allowing concealed carry also dramatically reduces the murder rates for both men and women. The reduction for women, however, is roughly three to four times larger than that for men.

The House is likely to pass some form of national reciprocity, but it faces a much steeper challenge in the Senate. Breaking the expected Democrat filibuster will require 60 votes; meaning at least seven Democratic senators will have to cross party lines in support of reciprocity. Those senators need only examine their own states’ experience. Six states represented by 12 Democratic senators: Arizona, Georgia, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Virginia already recognize concealed handgun permits from every other state. None has seen any problem with reciprocity.

Police play an indispensable role in public safety; but around 700,000 officers cannot provide protection for over 340 million Americans everywhere at once. The right thing for Congress to do would be to ensure law-abiding Americans do not lose their ability to defend themselves simply whenever they have to cross state lines. ✪