Tuesday, November 15, 2011

GOA Action Alert: Concealed Carry Reciprocity Debate Heating Up In House

On Tuesday, the U.S. House voted in favor of a procedural motion to allow concealed carry legislation to come to the floor for a vote on Wednesday.

The bill, H.R. 822, is intended to honor the American peoples’ right to keep and bear arms when traveling from state to state.

But while well-intentioned, H.R. 822 contains several flaws.

Vermont
Gun Owners Cut Out of Bill

For starters, the bill does not protect Vermont-style carry. Residents of that state do not need a permit in order to exercise their right to carry a firearm. But in order to benefit from the reciprocity bill, Vermonters would be forced to obtain a permit.

When GOA pointed out this problem, supporters of the legislation said Vermont residents can “just get an out-of-state permit.”

But that answer is unacceptable.

Why should existing liberties be sacrificed in the rush to pass a faulty bill? Why should a state with exemplary gun laws be, in effect, “punished” for being too pro-gun?

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) offered a real solution to this issue with his bill, HR 2900. Rep. Broun’s bill protects the Vermont law and those of states that follow Vermont’s lead.

Protect Constitutional Carry

Constitutional Carry, wherein citizens can carry a firearm without first having to prove their worthiness to the police or government bureaucrats, is spreading to states around the country.

Alaska, Arizona and Wyoming now have Constitutional Carry laws based on the Vermont model. Montana passed such a law that covers 98% of the state, and Texas passed a “constitutional carry lite” law that applies to firearms carried in a vehicle.

These new laws represent the efforts of hundreds of thousands of grassroots gun owners working in their states to restore their constitutional rights.

The bill coming to the floor on Wednesday will deter such efforts by requiring state residents to possess a permit in order to be able to carry interstate.

The Broun bill is Constitutional Carry-friendly and would not undermine the work underway in many states to pass laws similar to Vermont’s.

Pass the Best Bill Possible

Supporters of H.R. 822 argue that this bill is the best that can be passed. That pragmatic argument is simply not true.

In 2009, a Senate bill virtually identical to H.R. 2900 garnered 58 votes. And that was before the last election, which improved the Senate significantly.

The “best bill possible” is the one that already has the votes in the Senate to pass. The supporters of H.R. 822 instead chose to move a weaker bill in the chamber where gun owners have more support.

Supporters of H.R. 822 also want NO amendments (even ones that are pro-gun) to pass to the underlying bill. But an amendment is exactly what is needed to correct the deficiencies in this bill.

Contact Your Representative Right Away

Please take action quickly, as this bill is set to come to the floor on Wednesday afternoon.

GOA has provided a prewritten message you can send asking your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 2900 and to urge the House leaders to fix the flaws in the concealed carry reciprocity bill.

4 comments:

  1. While I understand that those who would like to see this bill passed are well meaning but my Nana (grandmother on my mother's side)preached to us all the time about the law of unintended consequences. I feel the article I posted elsewhere via Sword-At-The-Ready from Ann Barnhardt makes a very important point.

    "Of course you can own and carry a gun. You have the God-given right to your life, and the right to protect yourself, your family and your property. No one can ever, ever take that right away from you except YOU. The state can pass as many laws as it wants banning gun ownership and bearing, but every single one of those laws is illegitimate, and thus should not be followed."

    http://swordattheready.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/we-the-whipped/

    This is of course one small point of her article but a very important one. I am a firm believer in Constitutional carry and that the Constitution means exactly what it it says, "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." I also believe that that statement stands on its own as well as in conjunction to the first statement, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State". The right to bear arms is not dependent upon the existence of a well regulated Militia.

    This is the only reason to date that I have not gotten my concealed carry permit although I have been real close several times. What part of shall not be infringed do they not understand. I contacted my rep to support universal Constitutional carry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am currently in a pissing contest on the NRA facebook about this. They seem to think that it is fine if they frog stomp my rights to get what they want. Just like the 99%.

    http://www.facebook.com/NationalRifleAssociation/posts/201800069896926?notif_t=share_reply

    hr 822 will not survive court challenges. Everyone will end up having to meet Masshole gun laws. That is why demo-rats are supporting 822. It gets the fed's nose in the tent.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It gets the fed's nose in the tent

    Precisely. Idiots. Thanks for the NRA thing and I just posted there.

    ReplyDelete