Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
While concealed carry is all fine and well, the requirement to have a permit in order to bear arms is still a clear infringement on the plain text of the Second Amendment. After all, “the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” doesn’t actually mean “infringe all you want by making someone have a permit in order to do this thing.”
Saying otherwise is ridiculous.
That’s why permitless carry is also often referred to as constitutional carry.
Now, two states are looking at doing away with their own permit requirements. First, we have Utah that has a constitutional carry bill just introduced.
A Utah lawmaker doesn’t think anyone over 21 needs to get a permit to carry a concealed firearm.
But while Rep. Walt Brooks, R-St. George, on Wednesday unveiled HB472 that would allow Utahns who can lawfully possess a firearm to forgo the permitting processes to conceal carry, he admits he doesn’t expect it to pass.
“Being this late in the session, the bill is not going to make it through. My purpose is to get the bill language together for next year’s session,” Brooks told the Deseret News.
This is not the first time lawmakers have tried to dump the Utah law that requires someone to have a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
The Legislature passed a bill in 2013 that would have dropped the requirement, but Gov. Gary Herbert vetoed the legislation, saying “it removes an existing provision of Utah law that those who carry a concealed weapon obtain a permit. Utah’s permitting system has been in place for decades, and in its current form for more than 15 years.”
Which, of course, is a stupid reason to veto a bill. Honestly, saying he’s vetoing a bill because it removes a provision it’s expressly written to remove is kind of circular reasoning.
More importantly, though, keeping a law in place simply because it’s been in place for years is beyond idiotic. Bad laws need to be removed, no matter how old they are.
Unfortunately, Brooks may be right and the bill not pass.
However, in Alabama, they’re much closer to making constitutional carry a reality.
A bill that would remove the requirement for citizens in Alabama to obtain a permit to conceal carry a firearm has passed a Senate Committee on a 6-4 vote.
The bill, SB1, was filed by Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa) and has faced opposition from gun control groups and police officers within the state.
Currently, in order to conceal a weapon on your person or to carry your weapon in an accessible place in a vehicle, Alabamians are required to possess a concealed carry permit that you obtain from your Sheriff.
Allen filed a similar bill last year that also got to this point, but failed to go any further.
Of course, Alabama’s current permitting process has some problems. In fact, I wrote yesterday about a measure to try and fix that system. However, these two bills aren’t exactly at odds with one another. A state-wide permitting system will still have a place in a constitutional carry state. After all, reciprocity requires a permit.
What are the odds of this one passing, though?
Well, not fantastic, truth be told, though I’d love to be wrong. This is basically the same legislature that failed to advance the bill last year. There’s no reason to think anything’s changed.
Still, it would be nice to see constitutional carry gain a little bit more steam with wins in either or both states.
Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger and lifetime shooter. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia. https://bearingarms.com/author/tomknighton/