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Tuesday, April 1, 2014

New Mexico's Requirement For U.S. Citizenship For Concealed Carry Permit Struck Down

The decision is here.  (At least, I think that link will work.)  New Mexico is an open carry state, in practice, not just in theory, but concealed carry licenses have always required you to be a U.S. citizen.  In this case, the argument was that a legal resident (in this case, an Australian) had an equal right to a license as a citizen, because alienage is a suspect category: the government must provide a compelling case for why non-citizens are treated differently.  Let me emphasize: resident alien is not the same as illegal alien.

UPDATE: Link updated.

4 comments:

  1. Link does not work -- it takes one to google mail (aka Gmail).

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  2. What's Idaho law on that, Clayton? I have a friend from New Zealand who wants to get her concealed carry.

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  3. Idaho law does not require U.S. citizenship. You do need to be a legal resident. See http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/idstat/Title18/T18CH33SECT18-3302.htm for the detailed requirements.

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