Truckers Shouldn’t Lose Second Amendment Rights

Do rights granted under the U.S. Constitution end at the border of one state when a citizen enters another? Generally speaking, no. The privileges and immunities clause of Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution says that citizens of one state are “entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens” in other states. This includes the right to travel for employment and recreation. However, there are limitations.

The scope of the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms for self-defense across state lines is the issue at the heart of a case filed on January 7, 2025, against Bob Jacobson, in his official capacity as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

The complaint challenges Minnesota’s refusal to recognize lawfully issued firearms permits of other states, including those held by plaintiffs David McCoy and Jeffrey Johnson in their home states of Texas and Georgia, respectively. Johnson also holds a permit from Florida, where he used to live.

The plaintiffs are professional long-haul 18-wheel truck drivers who crisscross the country, 300 days a year. According to the complaint, both maintain firearm competency with safety courses and memberships in various firearms organizations. Each regularly passes background checks required by their employment. Neither has any history of violence, felony convictions, or class one misdemeanors. Their backgrounds include experience as firefighters and emergency medical technicians.

The men consider themselves good Samaritans, their “personal ethos” impelling them to “make the road a little safer” by “helping stranded motorists, coming to the aid of accidents, assisting law enforcement and emergency workers.”

While driving, McCoy and Johnson regularly carry firearms for the purposes of self-defense, as well as defense of others, their home, and cargo. But whenever they reach the Minnesota border, Minnesota law requires them to unload their firearms and stow them in a closed, fastened container, rendering them not readily accessible. Other states have analogous restrictions.

Different State Requirements

“It’s a spiderweb of regulations as I travel from state to state,” said McCoy, who spoke on a hands-free phone while en route to Nashville. “As I turn up Interstate 81, I pass into West Virginia,” he said, by way of example. “Twelve miles later I pass into Maryland where I stop and unload my gun.” When he reaches Pennsylvania, he stops again to retrieve his firearm. He repeats this scenario again and again, 300 days a year.

When McCoy called lawyer Loren Seehase for advice about his travel difficulties, she was shocked to discover the “patchwork of laws” he had to navigate. Seehase is senior counsel at the nonprofit Liberty Justice Center, a public-interest litigation firm. “Minnesota’s law currently recognizes the validity of handgun permits issued by 20 states but denies reciprocity to 29 others,” she said. The law can fluctuate year to year. And it has no statutory requirement that the commissioner explain denial of reciprocity for any state law he considers not “similar” to Minnesota and thereby excludes.

After comparing Texas and Minnesota regulations, Seehase said she believed Texas’ law is actually more restrictive.

Non-compliance with Minnesota’s gun permit requirement carries hefty penalties that would threaten plaintiffs’ licenses and livelihoods. First offenses carry fines up to $3,000, incarceration up to 364 days, or both. Second and subsequent offenses can result in fines up to $10,000, incarceration up to five years, or both.

Needed for Protection

Safety on the road is also a serious concern for truckers. “They live in their truck. In a sense it is their home,” said Seehase.

“One time I was carrying cargo to a new job and the mechanic was intoxicated and didn’t recognize me and shot at me in my truck,” McCoy said. While stopped at crashes to help motorists, he has witnessed individuals fleeing from purported crimes. Road rage against truckers is a common occurrence.

There are reports of violence against female truckers too. They account for 6 to 10 percent of long-haulers.  

The year 2023 saw an enormous surge in cargo theft across the U.S. involving hijacking, forced entry, and break-ins while truckers stepped away from their vehicles. Totals for 2024 are not in yet, but theft rose substantially during the third quarter. Estimates place the financial fallout at $15-$35 billion.

The costs and logistics of complying with assorted state permits add additional burdens. Minnesota alone charges a $100 application fee for a firearms permit and requires applicants to apply in person. Permit notification can take another 30 days. Meanwhile, the law prohibits out-of-state truckers and others from carrying firearms. Permits, valid for five years, are mailed to applicants’ home addresses, adding another layer of difficulty for truckers to retrieve them.

Lawsuit

The complaint alleges that these burdens are not only onerous on the plaintiffs but on “millions of other similarly situated Americans.” Professional truck drivers number approximately 3.5 million in the U.S., of which 300,000-500,000 are long-haulers. Add to that others with valid permits who travel out-of-state for work or pleasure, including those residing in recreational vehicles. Seehase says this results “in a refusal to recognize the carry permits of approximately two-thirds of Americans.”

The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment that Minnesota’s refusal to recognize lawfully issued out-of-state firearms permits violates the Second Amendment, an injunction prohibiting enforcement, and an order requiring Minnesota to honor lawfully issued out-of-state firearms permits.

The complaint says in no other instance does Minnesota require a visiting individual to obtain permission before exercising a constitutional right. What about regulations, for example, that require permits for parades or protests and the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble? “That’s different,” Seehase said. “Under the law, they’re not treating residents and nonresidents differently.”

The commissioner’s office declined to weigh in, stating it was generally not their practice to comment on pending litigation. Once served with the complaint, the commissioner will have 21 days to respond.

The litigation will undoubtedly turn on the application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which struck down New York’s concealed carry permit regulation requiring applicants to demonstrate special need for carrying a firearm in public for self-defense. The court did not prohibit states from enacting firearms licensing requirements, but held that the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms extended beyond one’s home. It further placed the burden on a state to substantiate that its laws are consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation. “I don’t think Minnesota can overcome that burden,” Seehase said.

Beverly Willett is co-founder of the Coalition for Divorce Reform and a former lawyer. She is the author of “Disassembly Required: A Memoir of Midlife Resurrection.”