Not to mention that this bill would present serious risks to law enforcement themselves. Unlike driver’s licenses, law enforcement have almost no way to verify a valid gun permit or license. Therefore, there would be a new challenge to verify the permit. 

This bill will also make it easier for guns to be transported across state lines for illegal sale and distribution. Access to guns, especially for criminals, is already far too simple a thing. We do not need the federal government to pass a law that makes it easier for criminals to get their hands on weapons when we see recent research that shows that when more people are allowed to carry in public, violent crime goes up. When states have weak law enforcement and no ability to check, verify, or deny permits to individuals, violent crime goes up by nearly 13 percent according to research done by Aneja Donohue from the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. 

We need, instead, to dedicate ourselves to ensuring that criminals cannot get guns; it should be more difficult to transport firearms across state lines, not less. This bill would allow concealed carry by people from states who have no permit or background check whatsoever, making it a dangerous prospect to support this bill. Instead, background checks must be made more rigorous, and there should be a national registry of gun owners. Ultimately, states should be able to continue to work out amongst themselves whether they want to honor each other’s’ permits or not through individual concealed carry reciprocity agreements.