Major win! House approves gun rights expansion
The House approved the bill, 231-198, largely along party lines. Six Democrats voted yes, while 14 Republicans voted no. The measure would allow gun owners with a state-issued concealed-carry permit to carry a handgun in any state that allows concealed weapons. It now goes to the Senate.
Republicans said the reciprocity measure, a top priority of the National Rifle Association, would allow gun owners to travel freely between states without worrying about conflicting state laws or civil suits. Opponents, mostly Democrats, said the bill could endanger public safety by overriding state laws that place strict limits on guns.
Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., called the bill an attempt to undermine states’ rights, “hamstring law enforcement and allow dangerous criminals to walk around with hidden guns anywhere and at any time. It’s unspeakable that this is Congress’ response to the worst gun tragedies in American history.” Esty represents Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six educators were fatally shot in 2012.
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who was shot in the head in 2011, denounced the House action. “I’m angry that when this country is begging for courage from our leaders, they are responding with cowardice,” she said in a statement.
The NRA applauded the vote. The concealed-carry bill “is the culmination of a 30-year movement recognizing the right of all law-abiding Americans to defend themselves and their loved ones, including when they cross state lines,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the group’s political and lobbying arm.
The House vote came as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said his agency expects to regulate bump-stock devices and could end up banning them. Thomas Brandon told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the ATF and Justice Department would not have initiated the review “if (banning them) wasn’t a possibility at the end.”
The Justice Department announced this week it is reviewing whether weapons using bump stocks should be considered illegal machine guns under federal law. The review comes after a Las Vegas gunman used the device during an October rampage that killed 58 people and wounded hundreds more. Bump stocks allow semi-automatic rifles to fire nearly as fast as an automatic rifle. A woman who survived the Las Vegas shooting said she remained beside one of the victims as he died, even though she had never met him.
Heather Gooze, a bartender at the country music festival where the shooting occurred, said she didn’t want 23-year-old Jordan McIldoon to be a “John Doe,” unnamed and alone. “His death mattered, and I wanted him to be remembered,” Gooze told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said during House debate that his state forces gun owners to meet an array of conditions before obtaining a concealed-carry permit — in contrast to some states where “if you’re 21 and have a pulse” you can get a gun permit.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said those who carry concealed handguns not only are better prepared to defend themselves, but can help others. He cited 2015 incident in which an Uber driver shot and wounded a gunman who was firing into a crowd of people in Chicago. “Without this citizen’s quick thinking and actions, who knows how many could have fallen victim to this shooter?” Goodlatte asked.
He and other Republicans compared the concealed-carry permit to a driver’s license that is valid in any state.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., scoffed at that notion. “Georgia has no business, no right, to tell Colorado what its laws should be,” he said. “If more guns made people safer, we’d be the safest country on earth,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. “We’re far from it.”
Democrats also criticized Republicans for including a bill on background checks in the concealed-carry legislation. The measure would strengthen the FBI database of prohibited gun buyers after the Air Force failed to report the criminal history of the gunman who slaughtered more than two dozen people at a Texas church.
The Air Force has acknowledged that the Texas shooter, Devin Kelley, should have had his name and domestic violence conviction submitted to the National Criminal Information Center database. The Air Force has discovered several dozen other such reporting omissions since the Nov. 5 shooting.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, top Democrat on the House Judiciary panel, said the background-check provision “actually would save lives and should not be tethered” to the concealed-carry reciprocity bill. He called it a cynical maneuver to force Democrats to cast a politically unpopular vote against background checks. The legislation also would order the Justice Department to study bump stocks, including how often they are used in a crime.
Brandon, the ATF director, told the Senate that the ongoing federal review may find the government doesn’t have authority to ban bump stocks. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the Judiciary panel’s top ranking Democrat, said the uncertainty demands that Congress quickly approve legislation “to ban these dangerous devices.”
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, co-sponsored a bipartisan bill bolstering the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. While he supports the concealed-carry measure, “I think it’s a mistake to try to combine this with the ‘Fix NICS’ background check,” Cornyn told reporters.
https://thehornnews.com/house-approves-gun-rights-expansion/
4 comments:
Let me toss a monkey into this works. . . Think about this. . . what is a license? What is a "permit"? These are privileges to do something, given by men. Basically, permission to do something. Who has to ask for permission to do something? A child! Are you a child? Well, no, I don't think you are!
Now, consider this also. My son and I were doing some research into a bill that passed in our state a few years ago concerning concealed carry. It stated that if you held a concealed carry permit, you had to carry your gun concealed, except in places where concealed carry is not permitted (not allowed).
When you read laws (statutes, actually) concerning items, they are extremely specific. When you run across, for example, the word or phrase, "including" or "includes" it does not mean all of this plus including these other items. It simply means ONLY the items "included" in the list. For example, if a statute says ". . .you can have balloons in any color, including red, blue and green. . ." It does NOT mean you can have yellow balloons, or white, or chartreuse or any other color that is not in the included list. It means that ONLY red, blue and green are "included" and therefore, are allowed.
So, let's go back to that statute, and I am sorry i can't bring it to mind at the moment, but the jist of it is that if you are a concealed carry permit holder, you must (not optional, it says "must") carry your weapon concealed, except in places where concealed carry is not permitted. Those places you cannot even carry it because you are a Concealed Carry Permit holder! It says nothing about the list of places where it is permitted. We assume that to mean Post Offices, government buildings, etc. . . It doesn't even reference any other statute for any list, but that is not the point, here.
The point here is that there is absolutely NO provision in the statute for those who wish to carry "OPEN" (NOT Concealed Carry Permit holders), and since the statute only states that if you are a Concealed Carry Permit holder, you MUST carry concealed, except. . . but those who do NOT have a permit, are allowed to carry, openly, whenever and wherever they feel is necessary, regardless of what it says about the Concealed Carry Permit holders, because that statute only applies to those SPECIFICALLY LISTED in the statute, ie, the Concealed Carry Permit holders.
So, Given this information, I will NEVER get a Concealed Carry Permit. Or License or whatever they (men) decide to title the "permission" for the "privilege" they are granting. If you have to ask for a "permit (permission for privilege), that makes you immediately subordinate to someone else's authority. All these statutes they are trying to pass only apply to those specifically mentioned in their statutes. And, the statute is about "Concealed Carry Permit" holders! Not you and me, who choose not to get permission from someone else to have the ability to protect ourselves and our property and loved ones!
JMHO - TMMV
DS
The second amendment states, 'with NO infringements,'which means no background checks, waiting periods, no permits, no gun registrations, { They didn't do this shit when guns were first invented} etc, etc, the law of the second amendment is THE ONLY LAW- Special interest groups, daisy pickers, and lobbyists pay BIG money for politicians to pass these laws against us, such as mandatory auto insurance laws, driver's licenses, seat belt laws, etc- They don't want the people to make their own decisions- This is slowly going to change, and I am in hopes that our voices will be heard-Remember, we are under nobody else's authority, unless we ALLOW ourselves to be- Keep that in mind-We have the RIGHT to protect our lives, property, and religion, WITHOUT outside interference, and it IS TIME we let them know about it, one way or the other-Personally, and I don't care who hears or knows it, I don't like our government, I don't trust our government, I don't believe our government, and I don't listen to or believe anything that our government seems to think they need or have to tell me- Screw 'em ALL, at city hall-
DS - We nominate you to a position of advisor to the CON-gress and the President in regard to our First Amendment rights and licensing. Will you accept the assignment? This tape will explode into oblivion in two minutes.
Also H.J.R. 11654 Separation of Militias Act (Dick Act 1902) reinforces what you stated. No gun legislation. Period.
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