Virginia AG Mark Herring says the state will stop honoring concealed carry permits from other states
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says the state will unilaterally end the state’s long held concealed carry reciprocity agreements with 25 states.
The agreements are reportedly being severed with states deemed to have “weaker” concealed carry requirements as compared to Virginia. Specific details about what provisions in other states qualify as weaker have not been provided. Herring said severing the out-of-state agreements can prevent people who may be dangerous or irresponsible from carrying a concealed weapon.
“To me, this is a commonsense step that can help make Virginians and our law enforcement officers safer by ensuring that Virginia’s laws on who can and cannot carry a concealed handgun are applied evenly, consistently, and fairly,” he said in a statement provided to The Washington Post.
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“Evenly, consistently and fairly enforcing Virginia’s concealed handgun permit law, as we are now doing, means that it will be more difficult for potentially dangerous individuals to conceal their handguns here in Virginia and that will make Virginians safer, especially Virginian law enforcement,” Herring said.
The move means that Virginians will no longer be able to use their concealed handgun permits in six states that require a mutual reciprocity agreement: Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wyoming. Virginia will continue to recognize permits from Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
John Whitbeck, chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, said Herring’s announcement was further proof that Democrats have “declared war on the Second Amendment.”
The NY Times supports the move, stating that “Shouldn’t elected officials in Virginia support requiring visitors to their state to follow its laws? As Mr. Herring said in his statement, Virginia’s concealed-carry requirements ‘should not be undermined by wrongly recognizing permits from other states with more permissive standards.'”
Lars Dalseide, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said concealed handgun reciprocity agreements between states have ended before, but his organization is unaware of another state ever implementing a change of this magnitude.
Full list: The states whose permits Virginia will no longer recognize are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
