Say What?

   "I have a driver's license issued by my home state that enables me to drive my car in any other state. I also have a gun permit issued by my home state that enables me to carry a concealed weapon. Therefore, I should be able to carry my gun in any other state, just as I can drive a car in any other state."
   
   That's the rationale being used by the National Rifle Association in pushing for a federal law allowing reciprocity for concealed weapons, just as driver licenses are reciprocally recognized by other states.
   And as part of that rationale, the NRA quotes the part of Second Amendment that says "... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
   Once again, the gun lobby ignores the first phrase of the Second Amendment, which specifies that this right belongs only to states with "A well regulated militia ..."
   More important, however, is the failure of news interviewers to bring up the "well regulated militia" phrase and question NRA activists why they ignore this, and focus only on the supposed need for every individual to have as many weapons as he or she pleases, as well as the "right" to carry a handgun across state lines, comparing a concealed carry permit to a driver's license.
   Say what?

   There may indeed be valid reasons for an individual -- who is not a member of a well regulated militia -- to have a rifle or a pistol when that person lives in a rural area far away from the nearest police officer.
   But that's not true for people who live in major cities, where emergency first responders are quickly available with a telephone call.
   As for the argument that "the best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," that works only when all the "bad guys" wear black hats and the "good guys" wear white hats, like they did in Grade B movies about the Old West. These days, many folks don't wear hats at all, so how is one to know?
   Meanwhile, statistics kept by law enforcement agencies nationwide show that more guns equal more violence, injury and death.
  And in densely populated cities, allowing travelers to carry their guns is sure to bring more violence.
  Speaking of reciprocity, if gun laws nationwide be equated with the full freedom allowed in rural Western states, how about marijuana laws also being reciprocal? Or zoning laws, or medical licensing laws, or any other set of laws that are appropriate for one state, but not necessarily for another?
   Oops. So much for states rights.