For decades, one piece of legislation has towered above all others as the NRA-ILA’s top federal priority—and once again, the New York City metro area has demonstrated exactly why. National reciprocity, which would recognize the right of law-abiding citizens to travel interstate with firearms, cannot arrive soon enough.
Unfortunately, it won’t come soon enough for Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Rasheed Walker, who was arrested last week at LaGuardia Airport. Walker reasonably believed he was complying with the law when he declared his unloaded, locked, and properly secured handgun at the Delta Airlines ticket counter during check-in. In virtually every other part of the country, that is exactly the correct and lawful procedure. But this ticket counter happened to be in New York—one of the few remaining jurisdictions that refuses to respect the Second Amendment rights of travelers.
What lawful gun owners face in parts of the United States is often described as “draconian,” but that hardly captures the reality. It is a traumatizing, criminalizing, and financially devastating legal minefield—one federal officials have tolerated for far too long. Mr. Walker did not possess a New York carry permit when he approached the Delta counter. He could not have. As a Wisconsin resident and lawful firearm owner, such a permit is simply unavailable to him. Nonetheless, Walker was arrested and charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm—both felonies under New York law. He now awaits a court appearance in mid-March.
Walker’s ordeal is hardly unique. For years, the NRA has documented similar cases arising from New York and other states that refuse to honor the rights of lawful travelers. Take the case of Shaheen Allen. A single mother from Philadelphia with a valid Pennsylvania concealed carry permit, Allen traveled a short distance into New Jersey. During a traffic stop, she responsibly informed the officer that she had a firearm in her vehicle. She was promptly arrested and ultimately convicted of a felony because New Jersey does not recognize Pennsylvania carry permits. Only a governor’s pardon spared her from a possible 42-month prison sentence.
Given the U.S. Supreme Court’s clear guidance on the Second Amendment, these stories should no longer be making headlines.
Every day, Americans lawfully fly with properly declared and checked firearms across most of the country. Federal law—the Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA)—explicitly protects interstate travel with firearms. Yet certain jurisdictions—most notoriously the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey—routinely ignore both the letter and the spirit of that law, not to mention the Constitution itself, in order to harass travelers who pose no public safety threat whatsoever.
NRA-ILA has long warned gun owners about the dangers of traveling through New York, as well as other hostile jurisdictions including California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. Prosecutors in these areas frequently pursue local charges despite FOPA protections, dismissively telling travelers to “tell it to the judge.” Many victims, unable to afford prolonged out-of-state legal battles, are pressured into surrendering their lawfully owned firearms and accepting criminal pleas simply to escape financial ruin.
This treatment is particularly absurd given that concealed carry permit holders are statistically far more law-abiding than the general population. These citizens already navigate a maze of local, state, and federal regulations simply to exercise a constitutional right. Imagine following every rule while traveling from gun-friendly Montana to gun-friendly New Hampshire—only to have your flight diverted to LaGuardia due to bad weather. When you retrieve your checked luggage containing a properly declared firearm, you are suddenly deemed a criminal under local law. If you expect understanding or common sense from authorities, you will be sorely disappointed.
The right to carry firearms has advanced significantly over the past four decades through persistent legislative and legal efforts by the NRA. Today, all fifty states offer some form of concealed carry, and twenty-nine states have adopted permitless carry. In its landmark decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court affirmed that the right to “bear” arms naturally includes public carry for self-defense, and that both the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to possess firearms outside the home. Against this backdrop, the continued defiance by certain cities and states is indefensible.
With President Trump signaling his intent to sign national reciprocity legislation into law, there is no legitimate reason for H.R. 38—the Constitutional Carry Reciprocity Act—to remain stalled in Congress.
For Rasheed Walker and others caught in this legal trap, the consequences are immediate and severe.
And for gun owners whose travels take them through the New York City metro area, the Trump Administration’s recent move to legalize mailing handguns through the U.S. Postal Service may eventually offer a safer—if still imperfect—workaround.
