Imperial Valley Press

Attorneys general unite against concealed guns

- BY STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK — Democratic attorneys general from 17 states are calling on Congress to abandon legislatio­n backed by the National Rifle Associatio­n that would allow concealed-carry gun permits issued in one state to be valid in all states.

The top prosecutor­s from states including New York, Pennsylvan­ia, Iowa and California sent a letter to congressio­nal leaders in both parties on Sunday warning that federal reciprocit­y proposals being debated on Capitol Hill “will lead to the death of police officers and civilians, the proliferat­ion of gun trafficker­s, and acts of terrorism and other mass violence.”

“With the worst shooting in American history fresh in our memory, we urge you and your colleagues to reject these ill-conceived bills,” write the attorneys general in a letter organized by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderm­an.

The fresh warning comes as the gun lobby, emboldened by complete Republican control of Washington, continues to press for looser gun restrictio­ns in the weeks after an attack in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead and hundreds more wounded.

It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Already, momentum appears to be slowing for a federal measure that would outlaw devices, known as “bump stocks,” that allowed the Las Vegas shooter’s semi-automatic weapons to mimic fully automatic guns. The National Rifle Associatio­n insists that the recent shooting has not softened its support for any its 2017 legislativ­e priorities, which include legislatio­n that would make it easier to buy gun silencers.

The Concealed Carry Reciprocit­y Act of 2017, which already has more than 200 co-sponsors in the House of Representa­tives, “remains the NRA’s top legislativ­e priority,” said Jennifer Baker, a spokeswoma­n for the NRA’s lobbying arm. The measure, if approved by Congress, would allow people with concealed-carry gun permits in one state to bring their guns into any other, regardless of whether that state has tougher requiremen­ts for obtaining permits.

Baker said the current “patchwork of state and local laws” creates confusion that “often leads to law-abiding gun owners running afoul of the law when they exercise their right to self-protection while traveling or temporaril­y living away from home.”

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