Priority of NRA passes US House
WASHINGTON — The House voted Wednesday along party lines for a bill that would require states to honor other states’ concealed-carry licenses — a top priority of the National Rifle Association.
The proposal, which all Ohio Republicans supported and all Ohio Democrats opposed, passed 231-198. It was cosponsored by every Ohio Republican House member except Rep. Pat Tiberi, R–Genoa Township. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine last week signed onto a letter with 23 other Republican state attorneys general in support of the measure.
It was passed more than two months after a shooter in Las Vegas opened fire on a country music concert, killing 59 people and injuring about 500. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Weeks later, in November, a shooter opened fire on a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26 and injuring 20. That shooter was stopped by an armed bystander.
And in June, Capitol police killed a man who opened fire on members of Congress practicing in Alexandria, Virginia, for a congressional baseball game.
The bill has outraged gun-control advocates, who say it will allow people with dangerous histories and no training to carry hidden, loaded handguns throughout the country.
Republicans in recent days have combined the bill with a second measure aimed at improving the federal background-check system, which fell under scrutiny in the days after the Sutherland Springs shooting.
In a call earlier this week, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said he worries that the law will make it less safe for his officers.
“This isn’t the Wild West,” he said. “The reality of it all is that police officers in Baltimore and elsewhere may be completely unable to confirm
whether a person is carrying legally ... this invites chaos, this invites uncertainty, and I’m quite embarrassed, frankly, that we’re even talking about it.” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, meanwhile, said Texas, despite being a strong gun-rights state, has a “very thoughtful” concealed-carry process that includes a background check and safety test. Other states don’t necessarily have such requirements, he said. Fifteen states, for example, allow domestic abusers to carry a handgun.
“We have a process in place that assures law enforcement that they’re dealing with someone who has gone through a background check, is not a criminal and has proven to be a responsible gun owner,” he said.
The Texas chief said that if the bill would “create, in essence, a nationwide law that would require all states to honor a permit from any state,” regardless of the rules.
But Jim Irvine of the Buckeye Firearms Association, an Ohio–based gun-rights organization, said the bill is overdue.
Every state, he said, has a legal mechanism that allows residents to carry concealed handguns, and 42 states and the District of Columbia broadly recognize the right of lawabiding citizens to carry. But eight states — including New Jersey and New York — do not honor the rights of out–of–staters to use their concealed-carry permits. Ohio does, however, he said.
Irvine compares the licenses to driver’s licenses — if an Ohio driver were to drive in New Jersey, he said, it would be unthinkable to not honor that license.
“The idea that in New York they’d pull you over and throw you in jail because they decide they don’t honor an Ohio driver’s license is wrong,” he said. “That’s just an insane idea. I don’t think it’s right for the federal government to tell you who you can and can’t issue a license for.”