Steven Strauss

Opinion columnist

Left-wing radicals are upset that the Republican-controlled House recently passed the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. It is now up to the Senate to decide whether to go along.

The proposed act says that if you’re allowed to carry a concealed gun in your home state, you can do it in any of the other 49 states. To better understand how this works, let’s look at two states, Mississippi and New York. If you’re from Mississippi (where no special permit is needed for concealed carry), you’d legally be able to carry your concealed gun in New York, without worrying about any of New York’s gun permit requirements (the state has some of our country’s toughest permit laws for concealed carry).

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Mississippi’s death rate from guns is almost four times as high as New York’s, so you might wonder — is this a good idea? Well, we all know (per the National Rifle Association) that guns don’t kill people; people kill people. Now, if we’ve agreed this isn’t about guns — but about people — your next logical question is probably: Since the people of Mississippi kill each other at a much higher rate than New Yorkers do, why is it a good idea to let them walk around New York with concealed weapons? But, asking that question just shows what a bigoted member of the coastal elite you are — unfairly stereotyping the people from high murder rate states like Mississippi!

Some so-called conservatives, such as the deputy editor of National Review, point out that: Conservatives have traditionally held up federalism as an ideal… because it allow[s] different communities to reach different conclusions…There’s no good reason not to let states work out [reciprocal concealed carry] on their own...

What National Review’s "Republicans in Name Only" don’t understand is that "freedom!" trumps federalism. This act will free people from places like Mississippi from having to learn about other states’ laws when they visit those states. And the GOP really has a valid point here. Learning isn’t one of the strengths of the great state of Mississippi — it ranks 49th in the U.S. for the educational attainment of its citizens. Having to learn about another state’s laws before visiting there with a concealed, highly dangerous weapon is clearly too much of an imposition on residents of a state who have trouble graduating high school and college at the same rate as other Americans.

There’s another significant potential benefit from this proposed act. Allowing all these armed people (from places like Mississippi), to bring their concealed weapons to places like New York could raise New York’s murder rate — thereby making Mississippi’s high murder rate less embarrassing. You see, Republicans really do care about equality of outcomes among the states. If the GOP can’t make places like Mississippi (where it controls the government) safer, it can instead equalize things by trying to make places like New York (dominated by the Democratic Party) less safe.

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New York state criminals might be tempted to create fake residences in Mississippi, in order to claim the right to concealed carry in New York. No doubt, the ever-vigilant members of the GOP-controlled Mississippi government would crack down on such activities, with the same level of success they’ve had in addressing Mississippi’s educational and crime problems.

My only criticism of the act is that it doesn’t go far enough. If it’s too much of a burden to know the gun control laws of a state you’re visiting — why should you know the laws pertaining to things like age of consent for sex, driving rules, prostitution or drug use? The GOP should rewrite the proposed act as a General Reciprocity Act, specifying that whatever U.S. state you visit, only the laws of your home state apply to you.

Let me explain how this would work. The freeway speed limit in some of our states is 60 miles per hour, while in other states it’s 75 miles per hour. I say, whatever state you’re driving in, you should obey the speed limit and driving laws of the state you’re from.

In Massachusetts, pot is legal for recreational use, while in Alabama pot is illegal. So, if you’re from Massachusetts and visiting Alabama, you should be able to smoke pot and deal a little on the side too. And if you’re arrested by the Alabama authorities, you’d just show proof of your Massachusetts residence, and the Alabama police would have to release you. Fair is fair! If Massachusetts (which has some of the country’s strictest gun control laws) has to honor Alabama gun permit laws (which are some the country’s most relaxed), shouldn’t Alabama have to accept Massachusetts’ drug laws?

Brothels are legal in Nevada, but illegal in Mississippi. So, if you’re from Nevada, you should be able to set up a pop-up bordello in Mississippi, without fear of prosecution.

The great advantage to the approach I’m suggesting is that with everyone driving at different speeds, obeying different drug use laws, and on and on, reciprocal concealed carry of guns will seem like no big deal.

Steven Strauss, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, is a lecturer and visiting professor at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. Follow him on Twitter: @Steven_Strauss.