The National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups are rallying behind a bill currently in both sides of Congress, the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, saying the measure — if passed into law — would only bolster Second Amendment rights.
The bill basically lets legal concealed carry gun owners cart their weapons across state lines, so long as those states have their own concealed carry rights — “more or less like a driver’s license,” said Sen. John Cornyn, the sponsor of the bill on the Senate side.
Larry Keane, general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told The Hill: “The Second Amendment doesn’t end at the border of your state. This would enhance the rights of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves when they’re away from home.”
And the NRA-ILA’s Chris Cox said the bill would go far toward clarifying the “patchwork of state and local laws” that currently “confuse … the most conscientious and well-informed concealed carry permit holders,” he said, The Hill reported.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman is carrying the bill in the House. And bill supporters say they have enough Democratic supporters in the Senate to overcome any filibuster that might rear.
President Obama, meanwhile, isn’t like to sign the bill into law, insiders say, The Hill reported. Gun control advocates, like Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, are calling the measure a disaster.
“[It’s] evil and dangerous,” Mr. Gross said, The Hill reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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