Look, I'm a gun store owner. I've seen it a hundred times - a customer comes in, buys a perfectly legal firearm, gets their carry permit, and then practically has to play Russian roulette just by driving to the next state.
That's insane. Pure insanity.
President Trump recently said he wants national concealed carry reciprocity, and the anti-gun crowd loses their minds. But here's what they don't want you to know: armed citizens save lives all the time. A Marine veteran in Massachusetts recently used his concealed carry weapon to help police stop a convicted felon who was randomly shooting at motorists. In Missouri, two armed citizens stopped an active shooter in a parking lot - police say their quick actions prevented even more bloodshed.
These stories happen across America. But millions of law-abiding gun owners risk becoming criminals simply by crossing an invisible state line. You can drive your car from Georgia to California with a valid license. Your dog? Sure, bring the dog. But that firearm you legally carry for self-defense? Nope, suddenly you're a felon.
Make it make sense.
The courts have said driving is a privilege, not a right. Yet my Georgia driver's license works in New York and Hawaii, but my Georgia Weapons License doesn't? The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the Second Amendment is an individual right, but somehow that right vanishes when you cross a state boundary?
Here's the thing about gun-free zones and anti-carry laws: criminals don't follow them. They never have and never will. But law-abiding citizens do. So when we restrict concealed carry, we're not keeping criminals disarmed - we're disarming the good guys and making them sitting ducks.
When I travel to a state that doesn't recognize my Georgia carry permit, I'm left with a choice: break the law and carry anyway, or travel defenseless. Nobody should be forced into that position.
National reciprocity would fix this. Your constitutional right to defend yourself shouldn't depend on which side of a state line you're standing on. It's time to make carry permits work the same way everywhere - because a good guy with a gun is the best defense against a bad guy with a gun.