By Dean Weingarten
Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- President Trump promised to protect the Second Amendment and to push for national reciprocity for concealed carry permits.
This bill amends the federal criminal code to allow a qualified individual to carry a concealed handgun into or possess a concealed handgun in another state that allows individuals to carry concealed firearms.
A qualified individual must: (1) be eligible to possess, transport, or receive a firearm under federal law; (2) carry a valid photo identification document; and (3) carry a valid concealed carry permit issued by, or be eligible to carry a concealed firearm in, his or her state of residence.
Additionally, the bill specifies that a qualified individual who lawfully carries or possesses a concealed handgun in another state: (1) is not subject to the federal prohibition on possessing a firearm in a school zone, and (2) may carry or possess the concealed handgun in federally owned lands that are open to the public.
The passage of the bill would go far in keeping President Trump’s campaign promises. It removes numerous existing infringements on the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Here is the wording of the petition. From whitehouse.gov:
Mr. President, you have said many times that you would sign a national concealed carry reciprocity bill. Please urge Congress to pass H.R. 38 as soon as possible!
H.R. 38 will allow America’s 17 million concealed handgun permit holders to carry in every state in the Union as they go about their lives. As the recent shooting in Alexandria shows, crime and terrorism have no borders. Neither should self-defense!
No other group is as law-abiding as concealed handgun permit holders, regardless of which state they are from.
Currently over 20 states, such as Virginia, North Carolina, and Arizona, already honor permits from all other states, without issue. H.R. 38 will simply make such recognition uniform across the nation and will save many innocent American lives!
The petition was started on 18 July, 2017, and has over 10,000 signatures so far. It has until 17 August, 2017 to accumulate 100,000 signatures or more.
Here is the link to the petition. It requires submission of an email address and personal information to be counted.
Congress has already passed such legislation for current and retired police officers. The courts have already enforced that law, known as LEOSA, The Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act. LEOSA has been steadily expanded by amendment and by court interpretation. H.R. 38 would be following established legal precedent.
Some people insist that all our Second Amendment rights be restored immediately. They say any partial restoration of rights is no victory at all.
Incrementally restoring Second Amendment rights has been working. Fourteen states now have close approximations of Constitutional Carry. All states have methods for people to legal concealed carry weapons. The methods include shall issue permits in 41 states. Vermont does not have a permit process because they have always been a Constitutional Carry state. The eight states that egregiously violate the right to bear arms (by allowing permits to be denied at discretion) face the prospect of a Supreme Court decision or a national reciprocity law, either of which will remove many of their infringements on the right to bear arms.
Fighting with a petition, a friendly President, and a friendly Congress, is far easier than fighting an unfriendly President commanding a military force with all the resources of the Federal government aligned against you. I have signed the petition.
Here is a link to the petition.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.