NATIONAL RECIPROCITY
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
The Bill
HR 38—Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act—allows individuals already able to carry a concealed handgun in their home state to carry it in any other state, legally. Sponsored by Richard Hudson, R-NC, the bill passed in committee and will move on to the full House. It includes the following provisions:
National Reciprocity: Legal concealed carriers from one state can carry in others with similar laws.
Preemption of Conflicting State Laws: Most state and local restrictions that contradict the bill’s protections would be overridden.
Legal Protections: Provides a private right of action for carriers whose rights are interfered with and shields them from arrest without probable cause.
Respect for Property Rights: Allows private entities and governments to restrict firearms on their property if they choose.
Why Now?
Right now, if you have to drive through several states, you can find yourself in trouble with the law if you don’t know the laws of that state or community, even if you have a legal right to carry your weapon. The laws are a patchwork, which makes it risky to exercise your constitutional rights. Laws change, so what you knew last year may no longer be true. We shouldn’t have to scan the laws of every state we traverse.
More and more people are going back to the Constitution to understand the Bill of Rights. The 2nd Amendment has been regularly challenged, but as the Founders understood, every adult should be able to defend themselves. The Bill of Rights is a way to tell the government what they shall not do. The Founders knew that police and sheriffs primarily solve crimes; there will never be enough of them to stop crime. Once you are a victim of crime, it changes you forever. Our right to life requires that we have a right to self-defense and that right has to protect us from the kinds of weapons a perp would use. Having a can of pepper spray won’t help you from someone killing you with a gun.
The Left, who will block this new legislation, claims to help the poor, the downtrodden, the weak. And yet, they are happy to let these people be victims of the many criminals preying on them. Instead, they have reduced penalties, gotten rid of cash bail, and often, given lower sentences to the crook than to the person who defends himself, blame the lawful gun owners and do everything to keep us from having guns. Do they not see the single mom going home from work to her place in a bad neighborhood late at night? She’s a target. No, they don’t see her, or any of us. They have gated communities, private security or government-paid-for security, and topnotch alarm systems. These options are unavailable to most of us. They have more security while we are more likely to be victims. Those who vote for Democrats need to look at this specific situation. We need our rights protected.
What’s Wrong with the Bill?
HR38 is a good start, but… As you can see in the graphic below, there are still plenty of states that make it hard to get a carry permit. While Bruen helped, it didn’t give us national constitutional carry. The change I would make in this bill is to let any citizen in the US who holds a carry permit from ANY state to have this right across the nation. Even the constitutional carry states do have permits on offer for their residents. This should be enough to satisfy the obligation in the bill.
As an example, at one time, I had UT, NV and FL carry permits, which allowed me to carry a weapon in 33 states. HR38 would not cover me, as it is very difficult to get a CCW in CA with a wheel gun (which is the easiest and safest carry weapon for many women). They have speed tests similar to what police must take. But shouldn’t this bill apply to everyone, no matter how hard the state makes it to qualify? There are ways to get an out-of-state CCW and that should be good enough. Also, the CA CCW only works for two years and it takes forever to re-apply. It’s pretty worthless, and expensive.
Please change the bill; we all need our rights protected.
Unfortunately, as we’ve seen with the total annihilation of Title IX, there will be a plethora of states that will defy it if it passes and it will take possibly years to get full compliance. The hypocrisy is staggering.