One Step Closer, National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, Passes the House

U.S. House Pass­es NRA-backed

Nation­al Right-to-Car­ry Reci­procity Leg­is­la­tion

The U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives has passed an impor­tant self-defense mea­sure that would enable mil­lions of Right-to-Car­ry per­mit hold­ers across the coun­try to car­ry con­cealed firearms while trav­el­ing out­side their home states. H.R. 822, the Nation­al Right-to-Car­ry Reci­procity Act, passed by a major­i­ty bipar­ti­san vote of 272 to 154. All amend­ments aimed to weak­en or dam­age the integri­ty of this bill were defeat­ed.

“NRA has made the Nation­al Right-to-Car­ry Reci­procity Act a pri­or­i­ty because it enhances the fun­da­men­tal right to self-defense guar­an­teed to all law-abid­ing peo­ple,” said Chris W. Cox, exec­u­tive direc­tor of NRA’s Insti­tute for Leg­isla­tive Action. “Peo­ple are not immune from crime when they cross state lines. That is why it is vital for them to be able to defend them­selves and their loved ones should the need arise.”

H.R. 822, intro­duced in the U.S. House by Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Cliff Stearns (R‑Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D‑N.C.), allows any per­son with a valid state-issued con­cealed firearm per­mit to car­ry a con­cealed firearm in any state that issues con­cealed firearm per­mits, or that does not pro­hib­it the car­ry­ing of con­cealed firearms for law­ful pur­pos­es.

This bill does not affect exist­ing state laws. State laws gov­ern­ing where con­cealed firearms may be car­ried would apply with­in each state’s bor­ders. H.R. 822 does not cre­ate a fed­er­al licens­ing sys­tem or impose fed­er­al stan­dards on state per­mits; rather, it requires the states to rec­og­nize each oth­ers’ car­ry per­mits, just as they rec­og­nize dri­vers’ licens­es and car­ry per­mits held by armored car guards.

As of today, 49 states have laws in place that per­mit their cit­i­zens to car­ry a con­cealed firearm in some form. Only Illi­nois and the Dis­trict of Colum­bia deny its res­i­dents the right to car­ry con­cealed firearms out­side their homes or busi­ness­es for self-defense.

“We are grate­ful for the sup­port of Speak­er Boehn­er, Major­i­ty Leader Can­tor, Major­i­ty Whip McCarthy, Judi­cia­ry Chair­man Smith and pri­ma­ry spon­sors Con­gress­men Stearns and Shuler for their stead­fast sup­port of H.R. 822. Thanks to the per­sis­tence of mil­lions of Amer­i­can gun own­ers and NRA mem­bers, Con­gress has moved one step clos­er to improv­ing cru­cial self-defense laws in this coun­try,” con­clud­ed Cox.

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Estab­lished in 1871, the Nation­al Rifle Asso­ci­a­tion is Amer­i­ca’s old­est civ­il rights and sports­men’s group. Four mil­lion mem­bers strong, NRA con­tin­ues its mis­sion to uphold Sec­ond Amend­ment rights and to advo­cate enforce­ment of exist­ing laws against vio­lent offend­ers to reduce crime. The Asso­ci­a­tion remains the nation’s leader in firearm edu­ca­tion and train­ing for law-abid­ing gun own­ers, law enforce­ment and the mil­i­tary.