Bill Before Congress Would Allow Firearm Permit Holders To Carry Freely Across America Regardless of Local Gun Control Laws

Gun owners with state-issued concealed carry permits would be allowed to carry those weapons in any state in America regardless of local gun control laws if legislation now before Congress is passed and signed by President-elect Trump.Congressman Richard Hudson, a Republican from North Carolina, has convinced 120 of his colleagues to sign on as co-sponsors to what is being called the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. Among the co-sponsors is Congressman Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, whose imprimatur makes it a bi-partisan effort to expand gun rights.Backers of the law say its passage would be particularly useful in areas where a gun owner must cross multiple state lines in the course of a single day, such as the Washington, D.C. metro region. A gun owner living in Virginia but working at D.C. currently must have a permit to carry their firearm in both places. If that person wishes to travel to Maryland with the firearm, yet another permit would be needed to remain in compliance with state laws.On the campaign trail, President-elect Trump promised to protect Americans’ gun rights, stating that the “Second Amendment will always be safe with me as your president” at the National Rifle Association’s Great American Outdoor Show in February. He has also pledged to sign a national concealed carry reciprocity bill such as the one proposed by Mr. Golden. The National Rifle Association is backing Mr. Hudson’s bill, urging Congress to “now ensure that the right to self-defense does not end at a state line.” Currently, permitless carry is the law of the land in 29 states, 13 of which have passed legislation allowing it since 2021. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in 2022, which established that individuals have the right to carry a loaded firearm in public for self-defense, some states like New York made obtaining concealed carry permits significantly harder.A group opposed to concealed carry reciprocity, the Mayor Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety, whose senior vice president of government affairs, Monisha Henley, told ABC News in November of 2024 that if laws like Mr. Hudson’s pass, “law enforcement won’t know who has firearms.”The United States Concealed Carry Association has backed Mr. Hudson’s bill, calling it “one of the most consequential reforms for gun owners nationwide.“Our Constitutional rights do not end at state lines,” the association says. “This legislation is critical to ensuring law-abiding gun owners’ fundamental right to defend themselves and their loved ones regardless of geography or location.”The National Shooting Sports Foundation and Gun Owners of America is also supporting the bill. A prior version of the bill was passed by the House in 2017 but died in the Senate.

Bill Before Congress Would Allow Firearm Permit Holders To Carry Freely Across America Regardless of Local Gun Control Laws

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