Fellow Conservative,
With the GOP firmly in control of both chambers of Congress, it is time to pass the legislation that Obama and the Democrats have been stalling on.
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution reads that the “right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Since the tragic shooting in Newtown, CT two years ago, we have been fighting tooth and nail to protect our right to keep firearms.
Now, with that fight firmly secure, it is time to turn our focus to the other protection within the Second Amendment: the right to bear arms.
The Supreme Court ruled in the 2008 case Heller v. DC that the phrase “bear arms” literally means, “to carry a weapon.” That is definitional and not up for debate.
However, in a minority of liberal states, citizens are prevented from carrying a gun in public for self-defense. This is done either through an outright ban or by making the application process so difficult and burdensome that average citizens can never become licensed to carry a concealed weapon in public.
In years prior, Republicans have introduced legislation to mandate concealed carry reciprocity. But with Harry Reid in control of the Senate, the bills were always considered dead on arrival in the Senate.
The legislation needs to solve two issues: allowing trained gun owners to carry weapons across state lines and stopping liberal states from overregulating CCW applications to the point of it being a complete ban.
The first issue is easy to fix. Look at driver’s licenses, for example. In the beginning, driver’s licenses were only good in your state of residence. But people understood that regular interstate travel required reciprocity. Even though each state has different training requirements to obtain a license, politicians understood that even the most lenient state still produced competent drivers.
The same is true for concealed weapons permits. Some states have rigorous training requirements that take hours to complete and cost hundreds of dollars. Other states, like Utah, will give you a CCW permit after attending a brief slideshow and mailing in a check for $60.
But just like in the case of different standards for driving tests, all of these states still require competency before carrying a concealed weapon in public.
Your Second Amendment rights shouldn’t disappear just because you cross a state boundary. Not only does reciprocity make sense, but it also ensures that the constitution is upheld.
But pure reciprocity doesn’t change the fact that millions of Americans are still prohibited (by their own state) from getting a concealed weapons permit.
An estimated 82,081,889 people living in California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia are still being denied their Second Amendment right to carry a firearm outside the home. That’s 26.15% of the entire American population that lives in states where the right to BEAR arms is either prohibited outright (as was the case Washington DC until recently) or heavily restricted, making legally carrying a firearm practically impossible.
(There are pending court cases that could extend second amendment rights to California and Hawaii permanently)
Think about that though… There are around 43 states that recognize the Second Amendment and allow citizens to carry concealed weapons.
That means that 86 Senators and approximately ¾ of all Congressmen in the House come from states that allow citizens to carry concealed weapons. Even Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois recently changed its laws to allow trained gun owners to carry weapons in public.
There is absolutely no reason for this legislation not to pass. If it were up to me, then Constitutional Carry would be recognized in all 50 states. That isn’t realistic, however.
It is up to you and me to raise our voices and make sure that Congress understands that concealed carry reciprocity is a priority for the American people!
Demand that Congress pass legislation protecting the right to bear arms everywhere in the country!
Sincerely,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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