05 December 2017

H.R. 38 - The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 - Do it. Just do it.

Recently, one of the House committees voted in favor of a very important bill. While I'm not pleased with the method of execution, states like New Jersey and Maryland are the reason this is happening. If those states had bothered to recognize their citizen's rights, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 As a Georgia resident, I am not directly impacted by this legislation. The reason for that is because the states that surround Georgia and that states that I regularly travel to and through, all have reciprocity with Georgia. The only state that I have traveled into since moving to Georgia is Maryland and that was on my way to the Canaan Valley. I've also skirted D.C.

When I passed through Maryland (Oakland specifically) I stowed my sidearm until I got into the Canaan Valley. The funny thing I noticed on my drive was the small amount of signage that indicates that you've entered Maryland on those back roads. It would be easy to make a wrong turn and end up in an unfriendly state.

The way this bill benefits me is through requiring Maryland to recognize my permit. This would make it so that as I drive through Oakland from Morgantown down to the Canaan Valley, I would not be in violation of Maryland law by carrying my legally owned handgun and not having an impossible-for-the-average-citizen-to-acquire permit.

That is the main benefit of this law.

From what I understand, however, is that this bill may also make it so a resident of Maryland or New Jersey that isn't otherwise prohibited in another state, could receive a non-resident permit (provided they pass the background checks and meet the requirements) from another state (such as Utah or Virginia) and could still carry in their hyper-restrictive home state. If that is true, this finally gives those residents a much needed vector to exercise their natural rights.

It also, allegedly, protects you from magazine and ammunition limitations.

This needs to pass immediately. If it does, I would actually consider visiting states like New York for vacation.

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