A federal bill that would make it legal for a gun owner with a conceal carry permit (CCP) in one state to carry in the other 49 states (where doing so is legal) was voted out of a House Judiciary Committee last week and sent to the House floor.
The National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011 is under fire by various gun control groups who claim it will let people break CCP regulations and “override state laws” by allowing them to carry concealed without meeting the training/licensing requirements for that state. The National Rifle Association (NRA) disagrees, however, and says there is no conflict because each state sets their own gun laws and would be responsible for the CCL permit process.
Furthermore, they say, Second Amendment rights would be bettered. Rachel Parsons, NRA spokesperson, explained how:
“We think that allowing law-abiding people who have gone through all the legal channels to get a concealed carry permit should be able to use those firearms should they need to in the event of self-defense, and we don’t think that arbitrary lines should stop your Second Amendment freedoms,” Parsons said.
The future of this legislation is uncertain as a similar bill did not move out of the Senate in 2009. It must now pass both the House and Senate before it is sent to the President’s desk.
While this bill is being considered at the federal level, forward progress was recently made in protecting the Second Amendment rights of North Carolina citizens. This last legislative session, Gov. Bev Perdue signed HB 650 into law. The bill made several changes to the state’s gun laws (which go into effect on December 1) such as: “Castle Doctrine language, Fraudulent Firearms Purchase language, allows Right-to-Carry (RTC) permit holders to store firearms in their vehicles when parked on the grounds of certain state properties and courthouses, removes the restriction on owning (but not possessing) firearms by those subject to certain orders of protection, allows for the purchase of rifles and shotguns by North Carolina residents in all of the 49 other states, removes some restrictions on local governments prohibiting RTC permit holders from carrying firearms in parks under local control.”
It remains to be seen whether reciprocity laws will expand, but it is encouraging to see that North Carolina lawmakers have taken steps to ensure that law-abiding citizens are able to more freely exercise their Second Amendment rights while protecting themselves and their loved ones.
Katie, part of HB650 is universal reciprocity here in North Carolina. That means that as of December first, any concealed carry license issued anywhere in the US is valid here in North Carolina. Now we need to get HR822 passed so that we North Carolinians have the same rights when we go on vacation.
Thanks for pointing that out, Sean. These are all small steps in the right direction to protect citizens’ Second Amendment rights regardless of where they are.
As a conceal and carry license holder this is okay but I wish they would get off their useless duffs and bring unemployment back down to at least where it was before this these legislators took over- Republicans are killing our economy and the jobs losses just keep going higher and higher- but hey they are keeping themselves busy being good-ol-boys geez can we wait till next election or are we allowed to recall some of these Conservative clowns
I don’t think we should allow any state CCW owners permission to carry in NC until we can carry in their states. We should not pass HB650 until then. I absolutely detest traveling past the Virginia state line.
really? You won’t be nearly as happy I could be if we can get rid of your Liberal buddies up in Raleigh. The only thing killing jobs is Obummer and his endless restrictions on industry such as oil drilling and wiping out coal miner’s jobs. Perhaps not peeing away our tax dollars on progrmas to stimulate union dues monies used to grease the ways for political uses. Really? 60 million dollars on two elections in less than 6 months to recall rightful passed laws and elelcted officials. What we really need is the elimination of forced unionization states with the attendant extreme costs. If unionization is so good why do they need to force people to join and stay in?