The Crumbling Case Against Constitutional Carry

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You know Your Survival Guy is a fan of constitutional carry states. The number of states protecting citizens’ rights to carry a firearm without a permit has grown rapidly in the past few years. Writing for Guns in the News, Charles C. W. Cooke explains that the data shows politicians’ excuses about constitutional carry are not in line with reality. He writes:

There’s an old Monty Python sketch in which a theatrical radio narrator desperately tries to make an exceedingly boring story sound suspenseful and melodramatic. “June the 4th, 1973,” the voice says, “was much like any other summer’s day in Peterborough, and Ralph Mellish, a file clerk at an insurance company, was on his way to work as usual when … dah dum dum … nothing happened!”

The story of the widespread adoption of permitless concealed carry—broadly known as “constitutional carry”—has been similar in nature to the tale of Ralph Mellish.

Despite endless attempts to turn the development into a Wagnerian opera, we are now reaching the point at which nearly half of America’s 50 states have nixed their carry-permitting requirements, and still … dah dum dum … nothing has happened.

There has been no associated spike in related crime in these states. There has been no increase in armed confrontations. There hasn’t even been a rise in the number of bureaucratic infractions. There have been no negative consequences at all, but now more Americans can protect themselves until the police arrive.

And yet, each and every time a new state looks to nix its permitting systems, the usual voices still cry “disaster!” As I write, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is considering adding Pennsylvania to the list of constitutional-carry states, and, in response, their Democrat governor, Tom Wolf, is alleging all the same things gun controllers have since the late 1980s. “I will oppose any bill that reduces gun-safety measures,” Wolf vowed recently, while describing the proposal as “removing gun-safety protections and making it easier to carry a gun.”

At a certain point in American history, one might have forgiven politicians for claiming such things. By the mid-1970s, the Second Amendment was being ignored as a matter of routine, and when, in the following decade, a serious push to fix this began, nobody was quite sure what would happen. It was, of course, always far-fetched that, when faced with the restoration of their rights, Americans would turn their cities into the “Wild West,” but at least those who were making such predictions could point to the novelty of widespread concealed carry as a justification for their concern.

But now? In 2021? With 30 years of evidence to rely upon, these claims are absurd.

At this point, we know that respecting concealed carry does not cause problems. At this point, we know that demanding that permits be granted automatically to the eligible (“shall issue”) does not cause problems. And, at this point, we know that abolishing the permitting system completely does not cause problems. And yet still the carpers carp, and still some of our governments try to put free people through the ringer in service of mere superstition.

Why?

The only plausible line of argument against constitutional carry would be that it increased crime. If it does not increase crime—and we now know that it does not—that argument falls apart instantly. Constitutional carry, remember, does not alter who is eligible to carry a gun and who is not, nor does it alter the criminal penalties that are attached to violations of the law; it merely removes the obstacles in front of those who were never a problem in the first place.

There are now about 20 million concealed-carry perrmit holders in the U.S., and an unknown number in the 21 states that allow constitutional carry.

A permitting process that does nothing of use does not have other virtues that make it worth doing; rather, those bureaucratic impediments become a superfluous time-and-money tax imposed upon the exercise of a natural and constitutional right.

Action Line: Take a look at my map of constitutional carry states below. If you currently live in a state that prevents you from exercising your rights, consider moving to somewhere you are treated like the responsible, law-abiding, person you are. Look for a better America, today.

Many of these constitutional carry states are also on my list of Super States. Those are the states you should pay particular attention to if you’re planning a move of your family, or your business. Read more about them here: