To the Editor:
“Gun Crazy in the Senate” (editorial, July 21) engages in the kind of overheated rhetoric we unfortunately hear too often in the debate on Second Amendment rights. The reasonable bipartisan amendment on conceal-carry reciprocity, which I am proud to co-sponsor with 25 of my Senate colleagues, is about safety and the simple recognition that our constitutional rights should not end at the state line.
The law would apply only to people who are not prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm. It would not allow for carrying a concealed weapon into any state or area that has chosen not to permit concealed carry. In fact, it requires full compliance with all of the laws of the state in which the firearm would be carried. Contrary to your assertions, it does nothing to nullify state laws governing the places and manner in which those weapons can be carried.
This amendment would likewise do nothing to endanger police officers or other law-abiding citizens. Numerous states already permit national concealed-carry reciprocity and have not experienced any significant law enforcement difficulties. To call this amendment an “assault on public safety” is the worst and most counterproductive kind of fear-mongering.
John Thune
Washington, July 21, 2009
The writer, a Republican senator of South Dakota, is chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 