Katie wondered if a national concealed carry reciprocity bill was going to happen under a Trump White House. Well, Stephen Gutowski of The Washington Free Beacon wrote that there is one bill in the pipeline when the 115th Congress is sworn in next month:
North Carolina Republican Rep. Richard Hudson on Monday released the details of the bill he plans to introduce in the next session. The bill would allow anybody with a valid concealed carry permit from the state they live in to carry a gun in any other state.“Our Second Amendment right doesn’t disappear when we cross state lines, and I plan to introduce legislation in the first days of the 115th Congress to guarantee that,” Hudson told the Daily Caller. “The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 is a common sense bill to provide law-abiding citizens the right to conceal carry and travel freely between states without worrying about conflicting state codes or onerous civil suits.”
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The law would also allow anybody who is wrongfully prosecuted for carrying in a neighboring state to seek lawyers fees from that state.
I love it. Anyone who is supportive of Second Amendment rights should be happy about this, given that the chances of it passing are better now that Republicans retained control of Congress. Yet, just because the prospects are better doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing. It’ll pass the House, and President-elect Donald J. Trump will probably sign it, but it’s the Senate; we need to convince eight Democrats to end debate on the matter—and we’re going to be hard-pressed to find one to back a law that will surely see them catch hell from the anti-gun crowd should they even give the inkling that they’re considering it. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-SD) might be more open-minded, given that they’re from pro-gun red states. Still, say they do jump onboard leaving out Ms. Heitkamp’s possible future in the Trump administration (she’s being considered for a role in energy jobs or agriculture) we’re still six votes shy. It’s possible that this bill could face a legislative death at the ten-yard line due to the cloture vote.
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Concerning the courts, it’s possible that Trump will be able to put two justices on the Supreme Court, greatly increasing the odds that lawsuits over may issue states’ justifiable need clause, in which the applicant must present why they’re exercising their constitutional right to own a gun. They usually have to present evidence that they’re in physical danger through stalking or death threats, a procedural obstacle that many consider unconstitutional. There have been two cases in New Jersey and Maryland that have brought this before the Court; they’ve declined to hear arguments each time. I’m confident that in the long term, the Court will listen to a lawsuit concerning the unconstitutionality of the justifiable need clause relating to blue states’ anti-gun laws. And if found that the provision is unconstitutional, could strike down such provisions in other jurisdictions. Like with anything in America, things take time but keep on pushing until you succeed. As George Will has noted, often criticizes the petulant impulses of the Left who wants everything now relating to social justice, there isn’t a single thing that Americans have clamored for in a protracted way that they didn’t eventually get in our history.
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