A PRIVILEGE OR A RIGHT!  by Bohdan Rabarsky

If you’ve ever driven across state lines in America, did you think about what would happen if you were stopped for a moving violation or any traffic infraction?  Would your New York State driver’s license be valid? Of course it is!  Even though a driver’s license isn’t a Constitutional right and only a privilege, it’s covered under the United States Constitution.

How’s that you ask?

Even though the Founding Father’s couldn’t possibly have envisioned the automobile when they wrote the Constitution over two hundred years ago, crossing state lines is included in Article IV, Section I; “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records and Judicial Proceedings of every other State.” Americans can move freely between states even though they have different, state laws. It would be impractical - almost impossible - for people to obtain a driver’s license for every state they traveled through, so every state recognizes the driver’s licenses of all the other states.  

If that applies to privileges such as driver’s licenses, shouldn’t it also apply to a Constitutional Right such as the 2nd Amendment? The right to bear arms is in the 2nd Amendment of the U S Constitution, so why isn’t your New York State Concealed Carry Permit valid in the other 49 states? Does New York State reciprocate with the other 49 states in accepting their Concealed Carry Permits? Well, let’s see what the 2nd Amendment Foundation’s Concealed Carry Reciprocity Map says and shows about New York State.

States that don’t honor any other state’s Conceal Carry permits are: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia. Isn’t it interesting that 6 of the states that were included in the original 13 colonies that broke away from Britain, now deny 2nd Amendment Rights to those entering their state.  And of further irony, New York only agreed to approve the U S Constitution if a Bill of Rights was considered by Congress.

Since New York doesn’t honor other states’ pistol permits, there are only a few states that honor New York’s Conceal Carry permit: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. Other states’ regulations vary from state to state.   

To defeat our own state government’s limitations, many New York State residents obtain Utah and Pennsylvania conceal carry permits, as they’re easy to obtain; you can do the process online and they cover quite a few of the lower 48 states, especially along the east coast.

Either way, do your due diligence and check out the states you plan on travelling through. Not all of them abide by the Constitution’s Article IV, Section I and recognize another state’s Concealed Carry Permits.  The Second Amendment Foundation is a great source for information.  Handgunlaw.us

While you are here, take a second and check out this political cartoon which says-it-all.

A.F. Branco for 3/3/2026 | A.F. Branco | Comics | ArcaMax Publishing