This week, Republican Texas Senator John Cornyn introduced the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. This law would mandate that states recognize one another’s concealed carry permits. This would mean that gun owners could confidently cross state lines, knowing that the permit issued in their home state would be sufficient for any other state.
Emily Miller writes for the Washington Times:
Anti-gun activists have attempted to make Mr. Cornyn’s bill seem extremist. “There’s some scaremongering going on out there, but it’s pretty straightforward,” he said. “It’s like a driver’s license. It doesn’t trump state laws. Say you have a carry permit in Texas; then you use it in another state that has a concealed-carry law.”
This popular, common-sense legislation is necessary because the current system is totally convoluted. Each state decides which permits from other states it recognizes as lawful, and some recognize none. Gun owners are stuck doing extensive legal research to travel, but they can still get caught in the thicket. Mr. Cornyn said, “There are some jurisdictions like to play ‘gotcha.’”
That is exactly what just happened over New Year’s when Maryland police held a Florida man at a traffic stop for three hours to search his car because records showed he had a carry permit. John Filippidis didn’t even bring his gun when he drove his wife to a family wedding in New Jersey. But Mr. Filippidis told The Tampa Bay Tribune that he was treated “like a criminal” in anti-gun Maryland for having a gun permit, and he wasn’t even cited for a traffic violation.
The good news is that this looks like it has a shot at passing, or at least being brought to Obama for his signature or veto.
Mr. Cornyn is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is the first hurdle to a floor vote. (The House passed this legislation in 2011.) Mr. Cornyn last brought up the bill in April as an amendment to “Manchin-Toomey,” which was a legislative vehicle for Mr. Obama’s gun grab. While the president’s agenda only got 52 of the 60 votes needed for passage, concealed carry got 57 votes.
Given the fact that he has been talking about nothing but how he can limit and criminalize gun ownership, I think letting him know that a majority still believe in the Second Amendment would be a great symbolic victory—even if he did veto it.
The reason the bill has a shot is because many Democrats in Western states are already hurting from Obamacare and don’t want to anger more voters. “Mr. Reid will have to revert to his current dictatorial tactics to prevent getting concealed carry to a vote and possibly passing.”
With so much going wrong in the Senate and House, this is an encouraging bill.
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