The Practical Lawyer

December 5-11, 2016

Nationwide reciprocity for concealed carry?

By Ethan C. Nobles

Now that the Republicans have control of both houses of Congress and the White House, the notion of nationwide reciprocity for concealed carry permittees has been brought up yet again.

Nationwide reciprocity would, of course, mean that a concealed carry permit issued by one state would be recognized by the others. Incoming President Donald Trump has already signaled his support for nationwide reciprocity and we’ve seen that Republican congressmen aren’t at all shy about their support for the topic.

Last year, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced S.498, which would have allowed for nationwide reciprocity. That bill, however, vanished in committee in February last year and hasn’t been seen since.

Proponents of nationwide reciprocity have pointed out that it is downright confusing to figure out where out-of-state concealed carry permits are recognized and where they are not.

Let’s say, for example, you have an Arkansas concealed carry permit. Your permit will not be recognized in the states of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. Also, that Arkansas permit is no good in the District of Columbia, New York City and the territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and N. Mariana Islands.

To complicate things further, let’s say you’ve got our Arkansas concealed carry permit and you take a car trip to East Chicago, Indiana. Your permit is good in Indiana, but your trip will take you through Missouri and Illinois. Missouri honors your permit, but Illinois does not.

To avoid running afoul of Illinois authorities, you must know how to legally transport your handgun through that state. If you travel further – say to the Northeast through several states that don’t recognize your permit – then you’ll need to know the laws for each one if you want to properly transport your weapon.

Oh, and flying somewhere? You must store your gun in very specific ways on a plane (i.e., locked in a case, unloaded and checked is so it is not accessible), but what are the rules if you are flying into a state that doesn’t recognize your concealed carry permit?

Nationwide reciprocity would make that Arkansas concealed carry permit good anywhere – much to the delight of people who tend to tote their guns everywhere with them and to the chagrin of people who believe individual states should decide their own gun laws.

For anyone thinking nationwide reciprocity could lead to chaos, however, keep in mind that not much would change here in Arkansas. Since 2013, Arkansas has honored all concealed carry licenses from other states. Granted, anyone carrying a handgun on an out-of-state license must do so in full compliance of Arkansas law, but this state has a very liberal reciprocity policy in place and few people are aware of it.

Ethan C. Nobles is an attorney in Benton focusing on real estate, evictions, contracts, wills, trusts, incorporations, bankruptcy and other areas of law as the mood strikes. You can reach him at Ethan@NoblesLawFirm.com or visit him on the Internet at NoblesLawFirm.com.