Posted on 02/27/2017 8:15:23 AM PST by PROCON
At a meeting of Second Amendment advocates Saturday, Texas Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn vowed he will introduce a national concealed carry reciprocity bill in the Senate this week.
Cornyn announced the move while addressing the annual meeting of the Texas State Rifle Association, the state’s National Rifle Association affiliate, in Austin.
While Cornyn’s office has not released a statement on the issue, fellow Senate Republican Roger Wicker of Mississippi, a supporter, noted the measure “would give gun owners the freedom to use their concealed carry permits in other parts of the country, so long as the jurisdiction recognizes the permit as lawful.”
The bill would join North Carolina Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson’s H.R. 38 introduced last month in the House, which currently has 159 co-sponsors, in seeking to make concealed carry permits valid nationwide.
Though beat to the Congressional punch this session by Hudson, Cornyn has long been the GOP’s standard bearer for national reciprocity bills. He sponsored an amendment to a Democrat-backed safe schools bill in 2013 that was rejected. He then proposed a stand-alone legislation in 2015 that picked up 35 co-sponsors, including West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, but failed to make its way out of committee.
Should Cornyn be able to count on every Republican in the chamber this time around, as well as Manchin, he would still need to pick up seven more votes from across the aisle to overcome a potential Democrat filibuster.
While Second Amendment groups have hailed such a proposal, citing it will help bridge the often-confusing patchwork of state laws that can leave those traveling while armed in violation of local mandates, gun control advocates argue the move is dangerous.
One outspoken critic of national reciprocity last week was Manhattan Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., founder of Prosecutors Against Gun Violence.
“I think that would be a mistake,” Vance said at a Manhattan Republican Party event Wednesday night, as reported by the New York Post who seconded the DA’s remarks in a follow-up editorial.
Vance held that strict gun laws in the region, “are a significant part in the rapid and consistent decline in violent crime in New York state and New York City.”
You can carry in Missouri as it is a Missouri law, it does not translate to other states. I previously lived in a constitutional carry state but still kept a CCL so I could legally carry when traveling across state lines.
This is the son of Jimmy Carters’ SOS? He was addressing the NYC Republican Party? SO he’s the Manhattan District Attorney but not the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY/Manhattan, who’s Preet Bharara who President Trump chose to retain in one of his first post-election choices.
My problem admittedly without much thought is that conservatives are strong on “states’ rights” so why are they making this federal legislation? If TX want open carry, that’s the choice of the people there, and if NY doesn’t want it, it’s similarly their choice. This could be opening a mega can of worms.
A flat out lie and Vance knows it.
The GOA-backed bill is better.
GOA is in favor of H.R.38.
Cornyn’s bill is supposed to mirror H.R. 38.
It has not been introduced yet, so we cannot check it word for word.
Wait. Wouldn’t such a federal law be anti-10th Amendment and state sovereignty? Wouldn’t this be an example of the “central planning” that we don’t like? Confused here.
No, because of the 14th Amendment, the Federal government has the right and duty to enforce the Bill of Rights in the states.
Under the Interstate Commerce Clause, it should be able to prevent states from restricting private property movement between the states.
I got one that doesn’t require any new ‘law’. It’s called: defend the Rights of the People, suppressed and usurped under Color of Law. An inalienable Right, as re-affirmed in the 2nd Amendment.
I as well have no faith in anything coming out of Cornyn’s mouth. He goes back home and talks like a conservative, then when he gets back to DC you can normally find him trying to put his snout up the Quisling Juan McCain’s backside.
I wonder how my Nebraska permit and firearms would work in, oh Maryland, with their 10 rd mag capacity ban?
yeah I spoke way too soon. GOA’s latest email says that this is a good bill.
This House Bill looks stronger than Cornyn’s version.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.