Police chief lobby group campaigns against national reciprocity legislation

By Chris Eger

Boston Police Commissioner William Evans argues national reciprocity will lead to dangerous encounters at traffic stops and other interaction with those who may be carrying concealed firearms (Photo: Boston PD)
In a letter dominated by chiefs from states such as Massachusetts and New York, the International Association of Chiefs of Police urged against expanded concealed carry recognition.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police on Thursday made public a letter directed at Congressional leaders voicing the group’s opposition to the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act pending in Washington. The measures, H.R. 38 and S.446, respectively, would expand carry rights nationwide, in effect forcing states and local jurisdictions to respect all valid concealed carry permits, a move the letter’s signatories feel is a mistake.
“Mandated reciprocity would effectively override the permitting requirements of individual states, such as requiring safety training or prohibiting permits for people with multiple convictions for violent misdemeanors or drug or alcohol abuse problems,” the letter says in part.
Though made up of some 30,000 members, just 473 individuals from 39 states elected to lend their name to the letter. There are no active police chiefs who signed the letter from such conservative bulwark states as Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico or Nevada.

Source: Guns.com