House Republicans are taking another shot (pun intended) at working a concealed-carry reciprocity bi
redstate.com By Ward Clark
House Republicans are taking another shot (pun intended) at working a concealed-carry reciprocity bill into the agenda of the new Congress. This is something that pro-Second Amendment activists (like me) have been pushing for years; the current practice, while arguably unconstitutional under the 2nd Amendment and Article 4 of the Constitution, sets up a dangerous situation where a legal gun owner may be deemed a felon just for crossing a state line.
Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) aims (pun again intended) to remedy that.
The Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, authored by U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., would amend title 18 in the United States Code. As of late Thursday afternoon, 124 cosponsors – all Republicans including six from North Carolina – were on board in the chamber.
President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to sign it if the bill reaches his desk. Senate chambers have been a stumbling block but now is a 53-47 majority Republican. The House is 219-215 for the Grand Old Party with one vacancy.
“Our Second Amendment right does not disappear when we cross invisible state lines, and this commonsense legislation guarantees that,” Hudson said. “The Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act will protect law-abiding citizens’ rights to conceal carry and travel freely between states without worrying about conflicting state codes or onerous civil suits.”
It’s important to note that, while 29 states have permitless concealed carry laws – known as constitutional carry – those states do, by and large, still issue concealed carry permits, so that their residents may carry in states that recognize their permits. That sets up a crazy patchwork of different laws and expectations, subjecting perfectly law-abiding Americans to the risk of prison if they cross a state line, even inadvertently.
Gun banners will point at this and cry “But federalism!”
Yes, federalism, as in the supremacy of the states as the foremost body of government, is a valid principle and should be at the heart of government policy, in this case, we are talking about a fundamental human right, one recorded in and protected by the Constitution. The invoking of the state’s rights in this matter is a canard; this is one of the areas in which the national government is exercising its legitimate role, namely, protecting the liberty and property of the citizens…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (redstate.com)
Home | Caravan to Midnight (zutalk.com)
