A truck driver from Kansas and a Michigan resident are facing felony charges after state troopers discovered firearms in their vehicles in two separate incidents last week: a painful reminder of how far we still have to go before our right to keep and bear arms is treated like a first-class right in many states.
In 29 states, no permit is required to have a firearm at all, whether you're in your car or any other public setting. In Michigan, though, having a handgun in your car without a valid Michigan carry permit is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, even if you're not accused of any kind of violent offense.
In one case, an MSP trooper from the Metro North Post responded to a three-vehicle crash on westbound Interstate 696 near Dequindre Road in Warren
While investigating the crash, a trooper discovered a loaded pistol inside the cab of a semi truck, authorities said in a news release.
“The male driver from Kansas was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon after it was determined he was in possession of the loaded firearm without a CPL,” troopers said.
The pistol was seized, MSP said.
The case will be submitted to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office for a review and potential authorization of charges.
“Crash investigations often lead to the discovery of additional criminal activity,” state police said.
Kansas is one of those 29 permitless carry states, but if the semi driver had gone through the steps to acquire a Kansas carry permit he wouldn't be facing a felony today, since Michigan does have reciprocity with the Jayhawk State.
The cost to acquire permits that would allow a truck driver to carry in all 50 states (or even the 48 states in the continental United States) would run into the thousands of dollars. Some states, like Massachusetts, even require in-person visits to drop off applications, which add in even more money and time. That's one of the arguments for a federal right-to-carry reciprocity law, but unfortunately legislation has been stalled in Congress for years now.
What the Michigan State Police considers "criminal activity" is constitutionally protected behavior in more than half the country. I think it's unjust for Michigan residents to face criminal charges for having a firearm in their vehicle without a government-issued permission slip, but it's arguably even worse for non-residents to be punished so severely. As a coalition of Second Amendment groups including the Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, National Rifle Association, California Rifle & Pistol Association, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Maryland Shall Issue, Second Amendment Law Center, and the Cato Institute recently argued in an amicus brief filed with the Maryland Supreme Court, the history of gun ownership and regulation in the United States shows that "travelers" often had more leeway to bear arms than residents did.
This tradition began in the colonial era. In 1686, the Province of EastJersey prohibited “privately” wearing various weapons but exempted “all strangers, travelling upon their lawful occasions thro’ this Province, behaving themselves peaceably.” An 1813 Kentucky law was perhaps the earliest post-founding example, prohibiting the concealed carry of certain weapons “unless when travelling on a journey.” An 1820 Indiana law was similar, limiting its concealed carry ban by stating it “shall not be so construed as to affect travellers.”
By the end of the Antebellum Era, at least three other states (Tennessee, Arkansas, and Alabama) had also banned concealed carry but provided express exceptions for travelers.
This tradition continued well after the Civil War. For example, an 1867 Nevada law barred concealed carry for everyone who was not a “peace officer or traveler.” And an 1864 California law did the same. Dozens more examples exist, and a recent lawsuit painstakingly compiled over 80 of them.
The Kansas truck driver arrested for having a gun in his cab without a permit should bring this up with his attorney, though the Macomb County man arrested by state troopers for having an unlicensed firearm in his car probably won't be able to avail himself of this argument.
We shouldn't need a government-issued permission slip to exercise any of our enumerated rights, but that is not the current legal environment we live in. If you're going to carry across state lines, make sure that you know the laws of the states you'll be visiting, because in some locales simply bearing arms could land you in state prison for several years.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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