Congress shouldn't force states to recognize others' concealed weapon permits.

The Roanoke Times Editorial

Walking down a street in Virginia, people can be confident that if another pedestrian legally carries a gun in her pocket or under her jacket, she took a firearms safety course, even if it was just online.

They can be sure, too, that those who carry a hidden handgun have not received residential mental or substance abuse treatment in the last five years. It remains ridiculously easy to get a concealed-carry permit in the commonwealth, but at least Virginia has some modest protections against allowing just anyone to carry.

That is not true in some other states, and it will no longer be true in Virginia if Congress passes a measure to force states that allow concealed carry to recognize other states' permits. The Senate will vote on it today, and we urge Virginia's Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner to help defeat this dangerous, unneeded law.

If concealed-carry permits become automatically valid across state lines, the nation would quickly shed the few protections that exist. Only the states with the weakest laws would matter because some of them offer permits to non-residents.

Virginians who do not qualify at home could get a license elsewhere and dodge the commonwealth's rules.

States already can and do enter into reciprocity agreements with other states that offer comparable protections. Only the outliers, where practically anyone can get a permit, have trouble finding partners. A Virginian with a permit may carry his concealed handgun in half of the states.

The current system is akin to how states deal with driver's licenses. There is no federal mandate that states honor each other's driver's licenses. Rather, according to officials with the Virginia and North Carolina Departments of Motor Vehicles, states have reciprocity agreements. Because the standards are more comparable for drivers than they are for concealed weapon holders, the reciprocity is nearly universal.

If every state wanted to adopt the most stringent standards for concealed carry, reciprocity agreements would likely become similarly broad.

Most licenses issued by states become invalid at the state line. Bar licenses, fishing licenses, medical marijuana licenses and others are state-specific absent a reciprocity agreement. Leave concealed-carry permits the same.