Last updated September 2026 · By Nick Hall, who keeps a reciprocity map bookmarked and still checks it before every long drive
Quick take: Jeffrey M. Johnson Sr. filed a cert petition on 24 August asking the Supreme Court to review Minnesota’s selective recognition of out-of-state carry permits. He drives a truck for a living, holds Georgia and Florida licences, and cannot lawfully carry in a state he passes through constantly. The question he is putting to the Court is whether the right belongs to the citizen or to the state that issued the paperwork.
- The petitioner: Jeffrey M. Johnson Sr., a Georgia resident who drives commercially across the country and holds valid firearm licences from Georgia and Florida.
- The ruling below: The Eighth Circuit upheld Minnesota’s system of recognising only some other states’ permits.
- The counsel: The Liberty Justice Center, which first filed in January 2025 on behalf of two drivers, David A. McCoy II and Jeffrey A. Johnson Sr.
- Minnesota’s alternative: a nonresident may apply in person to a county sheriff, pay fees reaching $100, and wait up to 30 days.
Truckers are the right plaintiffs for this. They live in the gap. A long-haul driver sleeps in the cab, parks in places nobody would choose, and crosses eight legal regimes before lunch.
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Table of Contents
The Problem With a Patchwork
Every state writes its own carry rules and its own list of which other states it trusts. The result is a map that changes under you as you drive.
For most people this is an occasional inconvenience you solve by checking before a road trip and leaving the gun at home if the answer is bad. For someone whose job is crossing state lines, it is a permanent condition.
Johnson holds licences from Georgia and Florida. He carries because long-haul drivers get robbed, they carry valuable cargo, and they sleep in truck stops. Minnesota does not recognise either licence. The Liberty Justice Center case page carries the filings.
Minnesota Does Offer a Route, Technically
The state’s answer is that Johnson can apply for a Minnesota permit. Nonresidents are eligible.
The application has to be submitted in person to a county sheriff. Fees run to $100. The sheriff has up to 30 days to issue or deny.
Consider what that asks of a man who does not live in Minnesota and passes through it on a schedule set by a dispatcher. He has to plan a trip to a county office during business hours, in a state he is only ever driving across, and repeat some version of that for every other state with the same rule. The right exists. Exercising it is a logistics problem nobody in his job can solve.
The Constitutional Question
The petition frames it about as directly as it can be framed. Does the right to bear arms belong to the American citizen, or does it exist only within the borders of whichever state issued his permit?
That phrasing is doing work. Other constitutional rights do not evaporate at a state line. Nobody argues your free exercise rights lapse when you drive into Iowa.
The counter-argument is that carry has always been regulated locally, that states have legitimate interests in knowing who is armed inside their borders, and that reciprocity is a policy choice for legislatures rather than a constitutional command. The Eighth Circuit bought some version of that.
Whether the Court Takes It
A cert petition is a long shot by default. The Court takes a small fraction of what is put in front of it.
This one has a few things going for it. The facts are clean and sympathetic. The question is narrow and concrete. And the Court has shown appetite for Second Amendment cases lately, having decided Wolford v. Lopez and United States v. Hemani earlier this year and granted the consolidated Viramontes and Grant rifle cases for the fall.
Against that, the Court may prefer to work through the cases it already has before opening a front on reciprocity, which touches all fifty states at once.
What It Would Change
If the Court took the case and ruled for Johnson, the practical effect would be enormous. Every selective-recognition regime in the country would be on notice, and the patchwork would start collapsing toward something closer to how a driver’s licence works.
If it declines, nothing changes. The Eighth Circuit’s ruling stands in its states, the map stays as complicated as it is, and the fix goes back to being a legislative project that has stalled in Congress repeatedly.
Either way, check before you drive. Our reciprocity map and the Minnesota gun laws guide are the fastest way to see where you stand today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the case about?
Whether Minnesota can refuse to recognise carry permits issued by other states. The petitioner, a Georgia resident who drives commercially, holds Georgia and Florida licences that Minnesota does not honour.
When was the petition filed?
The petition for a writ of certiorari was filed on 24 August 2026, following an Eighth Circuit decision upholding Minnesota's system.
Can a nonresident get a Minnesota carry permit?
Yes, but the application must be made in person to a county sheriff, fees reach $100, and the sheriff has up to 30 days to decide. For someone who does not live in the state, that is difficult to arrange.
Has the Supreme Court agreed to hear it?
Not yet. A cert petition is only a request. The Court grants a small share of the petitions it receives, and there is no timetable for a decision on this one.
Would a win create national carry reciprocity?
Not directly, but it would put every selective-recognition scheme in the country under constitutional pressure. National reciprocity by statute is a separate project that has repeatedly stalled in Congress.
Related Reading
- Concealed carry reciprocity, state by state
- Minnesota gun laws explained
- Carrying a gun when you travel
- Carrying a gun in your vehicle
- US gun laws, state by state
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