Also at my event at Boulder, someone asked about the constitutionality of a bill that would require every state to allow people with concealed carry permits in another state to carry concealed handguns in that state.  I said I would refer the question to Kevin Gutzman, co-author with me of Who Killed the Constitution?

Kevin writes:

“The question of course requires two answers:  one concerning the Constitution, and one concerning constitutional law.  As to the Constitution, of course not.  As to constitutional law, I think you’d run up against some recent precedents in which the Court has said that laws such as the Gun-Free School Zones Act were unconstitutional, but one can’t ever bet against the likelihood that the SCUS would uphold an act of Congress.”

As for the relevance of Article IV, Section 1, Kevin writes: “There’s a distinction between changes of state or determination of legal disputes, on one hand, and licenses to do things within particular jurisdictions, on the other.  So, for example, if a state that allowed motorcyclists ceased granting ‘licenses to operate motorcycles’ and began instead granting ‘licenses to operate motorcycles without wearing helmets,’ the reading these people have in mind would authorize bearers of such licenses to go helmetless in other states.  Absurd.”