carolina guy
Regular Member
I think you may be on to something. What is the "enabling" legislation for the "privilege" to carry concealed in Virginia? Where did it become illegal? If you compare the Constitutions of VA and NC as bordering states (and there is a lot of commonality with other states as well), they have either made it unconstitutional to carry concealed, or they have not.
Since VA does not have a Constitutional prohibition against concealed carry, then this sounds a lot less like VA granting a "privilege" and much more like VA granting an "exemption from a restriction of your Constitutional rights".
NC's concealed carry laws are more like an "exemption from a Constitutional Prohibition"...and honestly, I am not sure how it is actually Constitutional for the General Assembly to "allow" something that it explicitly prohibited.
Since VA does not have a Constitutional prohibition against concealed carry, then this sounds a lot less like VA granting a "privilege" and much more like VA granting an "exemption from a restriction of your Constitutional rights".
NC's concealed carry laws are more like an "exemption from a Constitutional Prohibition"...and honestly, I am not sure how it is actually Constitutional for the General Assembly to "allow" something that it explicitly prohibited.
Virginia
Article I
Section 13. Militia; standing armies; military subordinate to civil power.
That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
Article I
Section 13. Militia; standing armies; military subordinate to civil power.
That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
North Carolina
Article I
Sec. 30. Militia and the right to bear arms.
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; and, as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they shall not be maintained, and the military shall be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power. Nothing herein shall justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons, or prevent the General Assembly from enacting penal statutes against that practice.
Article I
Sec. 30. Militia and the right to bear arms.
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; and, as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they shall not be maintained, and the military shall be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power. Nothing herein shall justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons, or prevent the General Assembly from enacting penal statutes against that practice.
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