Thursday, November 17, 2011

Gun reciprocity shoots holes in states' rights

If you’ve lived in Texas then you’ve seen, or know someone that has, a firearm. From hunting in the rural ranches to protecting yourself in the city; gun control has always been a hot topic for our state.  Now in USA Today, an editorial writes about gun control and how it’s being stripped away from the states. The notion is that the House is voting on a measure that would require all states to accept each others carry permits, no questions asked. For example, if I were to obtain a concealed handgun license in Texas and travel across the country any state I travel through, outlawing a “concealed handgun”, must now oblige by Texas law on handguns. At first, to me the average hunter, it seemed to make sense; why hasn’t this been done in the past, came to mind. The NRA has pushed hard on this issue, lobbying House members to place the bill on the table. After thinking a little longer though, I seemed to agree with the writer of the article. Allowing something like this would go against everything our nation was built on, what happened to state rights? In a movement to make things easier to some individuals would probably be detrimental to others. Not only would this type of legislation cause political tyranny, but it’d also infringe on the safety of those whose states do have strict gun control laws. And what happens when the case is murder, if it were in a different state by an individual who had a handgun, which was only obtainable in his “other” state, where is the line drawn? Does he get charged with murder or would the law exemplify him simply biased on this legislation. I hope this bill doesn’t gain popularity, which personally I don’t think it is, it causes too much infringement on states’ rights with little benefits to us all.

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