A Georgia Trucker Asked SCOTUS: Why Does Carry Die at the Minnesota Line?

Jeffrey M. Johnson, Sr. is a Georgia resident and a professional truck driver who hauls across the 48 contiguous states. He holds current carry licenses from Florida and Georgia. Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson will not recognize either one. When Johnson rolls through Minnesota, he locks the gun in the truck. The Liberty Justice Center petition, docketed as No. 26-255 and filed August 24, 2026, asks the Supreme Court to take the case.

The questions presented are not subtle. One: whether Americans must obtain a firearm license from each state to exercise the Second Amendment across the Nation. Two: whether reciprocity statutes that refuse licenses issued by all other states survive Bruen. The caption is Johnson v. Jacobson. Below, the case was McCoy and Johnson v. Jacobson, No. 25-3036 in the Eighth Circuit, judgment May 26, 2026, after a District of Minnesota judgment on September 11, 2025. The statute is Minn. Stat. § 624.714.

The petition quotes Bruen: the right to bear arms in public for self-defense “is not a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees.” Then it says the Eighth Circuit disagrees. Quote: “In the Eighth Circuit’s view, an individual’s Second Amendment rights are confined to the borders of the state of where he holds a firearm permit. No matter how many times an ordinary law-abiding citizen proves his worth through a state’s firearm licensing process, another state can force him to do it again before he can exercise his ‘constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense.’” Speech does not stop at the state line. A carry permit should not either. The Court has not granted. The petition is on the desk.