KY: Governor Bevin Signs Law Restoring Constitutional Carry into Law

From wkyt.com:

Bevin signed Senate Bill 150 into law Monday. It allows Kentuckians 21 and older who can lawfully possess a firearm to be able to conceal it without a permit.

Governor Bevin explained the law does not create a right, it only reaffirms the Constitution. From oann.com: 

The governor emphasized the measure doesn’t grant the right to carry a gun, but instead he explained it reaffirms the constitution.

“This is a bill that recognizes as part of Kentucky law, once it is the law, once I have signed it, which I will, it recognizes the Second Amendment of the United States,” said Bevin. “That’s it, it doesn’t break new ground, it simply says that people do have the right to keep and bear arms.”

SB150 will go into effect in Kentucky in July of 2019.

States started infringing on the Second Amendment when they restricted concealed carry after the Supreme Court ruled the Bill of Rights did not apply to the state governments in 1833.

In 1822, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that a ban on carrying concealed arms was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment and the Kentucky State Constitution in Bliss v. Commonwealth of Kentucky.

In Kentucky, a Constitutional amendment was deemed necessary to make the general carry of concealed weapons illegal. The Constitutional Amendment to allow the legislature to regulate the concealed carry of weapons passed in 1849, as part of a constitutional convention. In 1850, the wording in bold was added:

  “That the rights of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned; but the General Assembly may pass laws to prevent persons from carrying concealed arms.” 

As the United States Supreme Court had ruled the states were not restricted by the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment no longer protected the rights of citizens of Kentucky in their courts.

It took a war between the states (or, as some prefer, the Civil War) to put in place the Fourteenth Constitutional Amendment, which was meant to extend the protections of the Bill of Rights to the States.

In 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was passed to assure, in part, that the Second Amendment would be enforced to insure that freed slaves could keep and bear arms. The former slave states found ways to evade the requirement. In 1873, the Fourteenth Amendment’s enforcement of the Bill of Rights against state encroachment was effectively nullified by the Supreme Court.

In 2010, the Supreme Court finally ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the Second Amendment to prevent infringements on the Second Amendment by the state governments.

Vermont always had Constitutional Carry.

15 States have passed some version of Constitutional Carry since 2003.

2003, Alaska restored Constitutional Carry to the exercise of Second Amendment rights.

2010, Arizona restored Constitutional Carry.

2011, Wyoming restored Constitutional Carry.

2013, Arkansas passed Act 746 into law. It is effectively Constitutional Carry. Some county prosecutors have threatened prosecution. None has occurred.

2015, Kansas, and Maine became Constitutional Carry club members.

2016, Idaho, Missouri, West Virginia, and Mississippi became Constitutional Carry states.

2017, New Hampshire, and North Dakota restored Constitutional Carry.

2019, South Dakota and Oklahoma, and Kentucky have restored Constitutional Carry.

There are now twice as many states with Constitutional Carry as there are states the infringe on the right to bear arms with “May Issue” carry permits.

Several more states are good candidates to respect the Second Amendment and pass Constitutional Carry legislation.

Constitutional Carry states are on the Mexican an Canadian borders. They are in the East, West, and Middle of the country. They border the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Gulf of Mexico. They include major metropolitan areas such as Phoenix, Oklahoma City, and Kansas City. 

©2019 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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