Double Talk

The right of the people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed
--James Madison (1789)
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In previous entries, Ranger has compared the fees required to carry a concealed weapon to those of the illegal poll tax which required people to front funds, knowledge or property in order to vote.

Attorney General Holder recently said the Texas's voter ID law, requiring a photo ID from all prospective voters, was the 21st-century equivalent of the illegal poll tax.

The poll taxes of the Jim Crow era were designed to dissuade poor black people from voting in elections, and the Texas law requiring a photo ID from all prospective voters is no different. An estimated 1.4 million Texans, predominantly the lower-income and minority voters who tend to vote Democratic, don’t have a driver’s license or other photo identification. To apply for a voter ID card, Texas requires people to travel to a state office and supply fingerprints and proof of identity, such as a birth certificate—copies of which cost $22. Discouraging people from voting this way is illegal, which is why Holder’s Justice Department rightly blocked this “disgraceful” law back in March. Soon, a federal court will rule whether Texas’s law—and similar laws in a dozen states—violates the Constitution (Voter ID: The Modern Poll Tax).

If a poll tax and photo voter ID requirement infringe upon our franchise -- a guaranteed right of citizenship -- then surely requiring a fee for a CCW permit is the same thing. Forty-nine (49) states allow citizens to carry a concealed weapon, either with or without a permit.

In Florida, the CCW permit costs $135 + fingerprinting fee, plus $100-150 for the required classes prior to application. The total cost to carry a concealed weapon in Florida is about $250. This is unconstitutional as a right can neither be denied nor abridged.

However, neither party will address the issue since both are complicit in its origin and furtherance. The CCW is a hidden tax and therefore a source of revenue. Additionally, neither party wants the lower socioeconomic classes carrying a gun in a de facto recognition of the direness of a life which might drive one into dangerous gun scenarios.

The Democrats wants these people to vote, but not tote; the Republicans would like them to do neither. That is it in a nutshell, but why might that be?

On a personal level, as a retired military officer having commanded three Army Marksmanship Units and Infantry weapons proficient to include sniper qualified, Ranger feels insulted that he is required to buy a permit for the purpose of exercising his right to carry a weapon.

The United States is a nation of conflicting beliefs, laws and emotions. One cannot move with cohesion until the rules are unified and clearly stated.

The Common Clause

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Congress recently defeated by two votes a Federal Bill to recognize Concealed Carry permits across state lines.

But why was this bill even being considered? The common clause of the Constitution guarantees that any state recognize licenses legally issued by another. This is what federal republics do, or should do.

Ranger's Florida-issued driver's license and plates are valid in all other states of the Union. Why are CCW's not covered by this constitutionally-defined clause?

Cars are more dangerous and cause more death and injury nationwide than do firearms, so why are they not regulated by the same standards?