Congress' end run around gun laws

Recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Americans' right to own and bear arms, but both of those rulings stopped well short of permitting anyone to carry a gun anytime and anywhere.

Some members of Congress, however, are pushing that way. A House bill would effectively override state restrictions on concealed firearms and allow anyone with a permit from one state to carry in any other that permits concealed weapons.

In other words, a concealed-carry permit holder could remain armed in any state but Illinois.

The immediate aim is an end run on states that have enacted gun control legislation that doesn't meet the approval of the National Rifle Association.

The organization's chief lobbyist, Chris W. Cox, touted the proposal in a recent column describing its necessity: "The problem is that some states allow visiting permit holders from other states to exercise their right to carry, and some states do not. As you can imagine, this presents a nightmare for interstate travel, as many Americans are forced to check their Second Amendment rights, and their fundamental right to self-defense, at the state line....

"NRA has made the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act a top priority because it restores a fundamental, inalienable right guaranteed to all law-abiding Americans by the Second Amendment."

The right to carry a weapon is hardly all-encompassing, let alone inalienable, as the Supreme Court noted in its District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago rulings.

Those rulings upheld Americans' rights to own guns by overturning laws that prohibited people from possessing a handgun in their own homes. But the court stopped far short of endorsing the NRA's goal, let alone finding a right to carry a concealed weapon everywhere.

Instead, the court ruled, state and local authorities may well impose restrictions on who can carry a weapon, and when and where they may do so. The extent of those restrictions remains undecided.

But forcing states to recognize others' permits for carrying concealed weapons is an unnecessary encroachment on states' responsibilities to tailor public-safety strategies to their circumstances and constituencies.

The bar for concealed carry permits is much lower in Virginia than in Maryland, a direct result of legislation drafted and approved by state lawmakers elected by voters in each state.

An inconvenience for those who'd like to tote guns across the Potomac and walk around town armed? Sure.

An unconstitutional infringement on an inalienable right? No, on both counts.