Case vs. ‘concealed carry reciprocity’

To the Times: “Concealed Carry Reciprocity” is the gun lobby’s top priority legislation. It would gut state gun laws and make it easy for people with dangerous histories and no training to carry hidden, loaded guns in public across the country.

Right now, each state has different standards for who can carry a concealed gun in public. CCR would force each state to accept the concealed carry standards of every other state, even states that have weak standards or no standards at all.

On the other hand, the “Fix NICS Act” is a bipartisan proposal to improve the federal background check system. It would give incentives to federal agencies and states to improve their reporting of records into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and hold them accountable if they don’t.

In the wake of the mass shootings in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and Las Vegas, members of Congress finally came together to draft this bipartisan bill that won support from both political parties, in both chambers of Congress. But, in order to push CCR, House Republicans have hijacked the “Fix NICS Act” and are attaching CCR to it. Anyone who votes to combine these bills will be sacrificing actual progress toward public safety in order to undermine state gun laws across the country.

“Concealed Carry Reciprocity” infringes on states’ rights, and adding it to the “Fix NICS Act” imperils the best chance we’ve had in years of passing common sense gun safety legislation.

Jessica Kapadia, Garnet Valley, Volunteer for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America