Woman pushes concealed carry
Christie pardoned Allen after she was arrested in N.J.
TRENTON, N.J. — The handgun that Shaneen Allen was carrying when she was pulled over on a New Jersey highway could have sent her to prison for years if not for a pardon from Republican Gov. Chris Christie.
Now the legal saga that kept the Pennsylvania mother of two in jail for 48 days has helped inspire a measure that could change handgun laws across the country.
“Hopefully I’ll be at the White House next to (President) Trump signing this bill,” said Allen, who has become a face of the Republican effort to break down barriers to carrying concealed firearms between states. “Republicans put their money where their mouth was.”
The Gop-led House passed legislation this month that would allow gun owners with a state-issued concealed-carry permit to carry a handgun in any state that allows concealed weapons. The bill faces longer odds in the Senate, which didn’t vote on it before leaving for the year.
The measure has pitted gun control advocates who say it would endanger public safety by effectively overriding states with tighter laws against gun rights activists who say it’s needed to allow gun owners to travel freely without worrying about conflicting state laws.
The measure is a priority of the National Rifle Association and attorneys general from 23 Republican states wrote a letter in support.
But even Christie, a Republican who has pardoned several of outof-state residents caught up in New Jersey’s strict gun laws, is against the change. Christie said it’s a state’s rights issue that the federal government should stay out of.
Allen’s story, along with others who have been caught up in similar circumstances, has helped the measure get this far.
North Carolina Republican Rep. Richard Hudson, who authored the legislation, cited Allen’s story as an example about why the measure is needed in a speech on the House floor.