Covered at Reason 24/7: Despite Focus on Gun Restrictions, More States Move To Loosen Laws

Almost all of the media attention is on
states like New York, Connecticut, Colorado and Maryland that have
moved to restrict self-defense rights by making it harder to
legally own and use firearms. But some scribblers at the West
Coast's dear old newspaper of (scratchy) sort-of record peeked up
over their cubicle walls and noticed something unexpected: Even
more states are moving to protect the right to bear arms,
and even to loosen restrictions on guns. Howdatappen? As
reporters Mark Z. Barabak and Melanie Mason put it, "[t]he result
is a significant disparity between states — some side by side — as
President Obama pushes for new federal gun controls." Not just a
significant disparity, you should note, but a growing divergence in
the legal treatment of self-defense rights at the state level.

From the
Los Angeles Times:

The first state to act after December's Sandy Hook shooting was
New York, where Republicans control the Senate and Democrats the
Assembly. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, worked with lawmakers of
both parties to pass a sweeping bill that beefed up the state's ban
on assault-style weapons and required universal background
checks.

Other states have moved in the opposite direction, loosening
restrictions on gun ownership and increasing the number of places
where firearms are permitted. Many have Republican governors, a
Republican-run statehouse or both.

In Michigan and Ohio, lawmakers have made it easier to obtain a
gun. Arkansas, Maine and Mississippi have passed laws to protect
the privacy of gun owners. Wyoming enacted legislation allowing
judges to carry weapons in the courtroom, and South Dakota passed a
law authorizing school employees to carry guns on the job.

More than a dozen other states are considering legislation that
would enhance gun rights, including Texas, North Carolina, Missouri
and Georgia.

As you might guess, not all state-level control freaks are happy
that their counterparts elsewhere are moving law in a
less-authoritarian direction. But, you know, tough shit.

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