Congress is taking action with legislation regarding firearms for the first time since the Las Vegas shooting. However, what they are attempting to do might surprise you.
The House of Representatives is moving forward with the first firearms-related legislation since Stephen Paddock shot and killed 58 people and injured 546 more at a concert in Las Vegas nearly two months ago. However, instead of reactionary legislation designed to restrict the legal ownership of guns by American citizens, the House is taking steps to expand gun rights for law-abiding citizens of the United States.
Later this week, the House Judiciary Committee will be voting on the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. The bill would allow firearm owners with concealed carry permits to cross state lines without the risk of being arrested because of conflicting state laws. The proposed legislation was introduced by Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) back in January. Currently, all 50 states have laws on the books that allow the concealed carrying of firearms, with widely differing rules and regulations. If the measure gets passed, it would mean that anybody with a state-issued concealed carry permit would be able to travel to any state with concealed carry laws.
“Currently, the patchwork of reciprocity laws and agreements between states is confusing and has caused law-abiding citizens to unwittingly break the law and suffer arrest and detention.” Rep. Hudson
Attorney Generals from sixteen states sent a leader to congressional leaders asking them to reject the NRA-sponsored legislation, arguing that states should not be forced to recognize the more “permissive” concealed carry laws of other states.
“Rather than creating a new national standard for who may carry concealed firearms, these bills would elevate the lowest state standard over higher ones and force some States to allow concealed carry by people who do not qualify under their laws.” -letter from 16 state Attorney Generals opposing Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017
In addition to concealed carry reciprocity, the legislation would also allow the carrying of firearms in national parks and on other federally-owned lands. The Judiciary Committee will also reportedly discuss legislation that will strengthen the FBI’s database of people legally prohibited from owning firearms. This is a direct response to the Sutherland Springs church shooting, in which the shooter should have been prevented from purchasing a gun due to a court-martial conviction resulting in his discharge from the United States Air Force.
Following the shooting, the Air Force admitted that they had failed to add the name and domestic violence conviction to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which would have prevented the shooter from purchasing the guns used in the deadly attack. The proposed legislation the Judiciary Committee will be reviewing would punish federal agencies such as the Department of Defense for failing to properly report those types of convictions to the NCIC and other relevant organizations; states that comply with the legislation would be incentivized by federal grant preferences.
Several prominent political leaders, to include the President, have pointed out that enforcing existing laws is the change that needs to be made. Gun laws don’t matter if they aren’t being followed by the government.
