Editor's Note: This column originally appeared in the June issue of Townhall Magazine.

I have two state-issued permits in my wallet.

My state-issued driver’s license allows me to get into a car and drive to visit friends in other states. If I decide to drive to visit my friend Pablo in Arizona, or Jacqueline in New York, my North Carolina-issued license will be honored by every law enforcement agency I may encounter along the way.

If I were to visit Pablo, I would not need to obtain additional driver’s licenses to drive through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. If I were to visit Jacqueline, I would not need to obtain additional licenses for Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. No matter where I drive in the United States, I have reciprocity with my driver’s license, under the presumption that if I am deemed competent to drive in one state, then I am competent enough to drive in every state.

If I even brought up the idea that I might need a driver’s license in each individual state, reasonable people would look at me as if I might need my current license revoked, at least until I’m checked over thoroughly by mental health professionals.

The other kind of state-issued permit that I have in my wallet is my North Carolina concealed carry permit, which enables me to carry a concealed handgun in the state of North Carolina, and a number of other states, but not all of them. While North Carolina has logically and automatically recognized the concealed carry permits of every other state issuing a concealed carry permit since 2011, only 36 states have reciprocity with North Carolina.

When I drive through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to see Pablo, I would legally be allowed to carry my concealed handgun and have my permit recognized by each and every one of those states, as each of these state attorneys general or legislature has made an agreement with North Carolina on a state-by-state basis.

Law enforcement officers in each of these states would check to ensure that my concealed carry permit and driver’s license were valid, that we did in fact have reciprocity in our concealed carry agreements, and they’d send me on my way.