Concealed-carry rights may grow
House bill, passed 231-198, mirrors NRA’s priority
WASHINGTON – The House voted Wednesday mostly along party lines to expand the right to carry concealed weapons, passing the National Rifle Association’s top legislative priority on the same day as a national vigil commemorating the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act would require each state to recognize concealed-carry permits from every other state — as they would a driver’s license — regardless of different permitting standards. Residents of states that don’t require permits to carry a concealed weapon would be able to carry their weapons in other states that allow concealed carry, as long as they abide by local laws.
The bill passed 231 to 198 with a handful of Democrats voting in favor. It is likely to have a tough time in the Senate.
The NRA says the bill would eliminate a confusing patchwork of state concealed-carry laws and reciprocity agreements that can cause a law-abiding gun owner to unwittingly break the law while traveling out of state. On the House floor, Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., pointed to the case of a Pennsylvania woman arrested in New Jersey in 2013 after a traffic stop because she didn’t realize the state wouldn’t recognize her permit. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pardoned her two years later.
Republicans said the bill will make people safer, citing instances in which armed citizens thwarted attackers.
“We know citizens who carry a concealed firearm are not only better prepared to act in their own self-defense but also in the defense of others,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Gun-control advocates say forcing states with strong permitting standards to honor permits from those with weaker ones will endanger public safety and make it harder for police to enforce gun laws. While every state and the District of Columbia allows the carrying of concealed weapons, 38 states generally require a state-issued permit to carry in public and the remaining 12 generally allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons in public without a permit, according to Giffords Law Center.
“This bill would eviscerate the core public safety determination that each states makes concerning the concealed carrying of guns in public based on the unique circumstances of each state and the desires by its citizens,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
The vote comes a week before the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in which 26 people died in Newtown, Conn., and follows two of the deadliest shootings in modern U.S. history. In October, a gunman killed 58 people and wounded more than 500 in Las Vegas. A month later, another gun-
“Shame on Paul Ryan for allowing a vote on this dangerous NRA gun bill.” Po Murray Newtown Action Alliance
man opened fire in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 25 people including a pregnant woman whose unborn baby also died.
Gun-violence survivors visiting Washington, D.C., for the fifth annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence called the bill an “outrage” at a news conference outside the Capitol.
“Shame on (House Speaker) Paul Ryan for allowing a vote on this dangerous NRA gun bill,” said Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance.
The House combined the concealedcarry bill with another measure to boost authorities’ reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS. The bill, called “Fix NICS,” came as a response to the Texas shooting. In that case, the gunman’s violent history would have precluded him from buying a gun but officials failed to report it to the background check system.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, lead Senate sponsor of the “Fix NICS” bill, said “it will save lives.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who is working with Cornyn on the bill, told gun violence survivors: “It is progress that they are trying to mask the NRA agenda. It is proof this movement is getting stronger.”