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Concealed Carry for Out-of-State Travel Fails by Only Two Votes
Well, there was bad news and good news this week.

“Gun Owners of America, another leading gun rights Second Amendment group, is a strong supporter of this amendment that’s specifically pushing for passage and scoring member’s votes.” — Louisiana Senator David Vitter, July 22, 2009

Gun Owners of America

Washington, DC - -(AmmoLand.com)- The bad news is that the Senate still fell two votes short of the 60 votes needed to enact the amendment, which was sponsored by Republican Senators John Thune (SD) and David Vitter (LA). A prior Unanimous Consent agreement allowed the amendment to be offered in the first place, but as such, required that the legislation garner 60 votes (rather than a simple majority) in order to pass.

The good news is that a majority of the U.S. Senate (58 members) voted for an amendment to allow citizens who are already authorized to carry firearms concealed to do so when they travel out of state.

The Thune-Vitter amendment was hotly debated on the Senate floor Wednesday. Senator Thune pointed out that, while 48 states have some form of concealed carry law, his measure would simply “extend that constitutional right across State lines,” recognizing that the right to bear arms and defend oneself  “does not end at State borders or State lines.”

One of the more comical arguments made by some Democrat Senators — Chuck Schumer (NY), Frank Lautenberg (NJ) and Dianne Feinstein (CA) — is that this provision would compromise “states rights.”

Of course, these Senators have shown they care little about “states rights,” as evidenced by federal gun control laws that bear their names: the ban on semi-automatic firearms (the so-called Feinstein assault weapons ban) and the lifetime gun ban on people who engage in pushing-and-shoving incidents in the home (the Lautenberg misdemeanor gun ban).

And where was their adherence to states rights when they voted for the Brady bill, the Gun Free School Zones Ban and the Veterans Disarmament Act?

Republican Senator Tom Coburn (OK) pointed out their hypocrisy when he said:

“We had a vote in terms of honoring States rights in terms of the national park bill on guns. Twenty-nine of my colleagues, thirteen of whom now are ‘defending States rights,’ stepped all over States rights with their vote against the Coburn amendment when it came to allowing people to have supreme their State law in terms of national parks.”

Senator Thune noted that his provision would protect the rights of states by not applying any national standards. Rather, the text simply requires states to acknowledge the concealed carry permits from other states.

In fact, the language of the text specifically states that nothing in the amendment “shall be construed to affect the permitting process for an individual… or preempt any provision of State law with respect to the issuance of licenses or permits to carry concealed firearms.”

Article IV of the U.S. Constitution allows for reciprocity-style legislation by the Congress. The Article allows Congress to enforce “full faith and credit” across the country, so that each state respects the “public acts, records, and judicial proceedings” of every other state.

Please go to the GOA website to see how your Senators voted:

http://capwiz.com/gunowners/issues/votes/?votenum=237&chamber=S&congress=1111

Gun owners should take special notice of Republican Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and former-Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter (PA) — both of whom voted against concealed carry. Had they voted pro-gun, the Thune-Vitter amendment would have passed.

Filed under: Gun Rights News by Ammoland 1 Comment »

Thune-Vitter CCW Reciprocity Amendment Is Really A Win
The Thune-Vitter amendment to S. 1290 received 60% of the senate vote.
By Christopher J Hoffman

Las Vegas, NV --(AmmoLand.com)- The headline is somewhat misleading. Let’s not forget that the amendment did pass, 58 to 39. It just did not have the votes to overcome the threat of a veto. 48 states already have concealed carry permit issue. No less than 40 of them are mandatory issue, meaning if you pass the background check and the course, the permit must be issued. Most of the concealed carry states already have reciprocity with most other such states.

What is astounding is the doomsday rhetoric that measures like this continues to inspire:

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, and generally a supporter of gun rights, said she opposed Mr. Thune’s amendment because it infringed on states and cities. “The Thune amendment would invite chaos in our cities,” she said.

“The passage of this amendment would have done more to threaten the safety of New Yorkers than anything since the repeal of the assault weapons ban,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer.

The so-called assault weapons ban was not repealed, Senator Schumer, it was allowed to expire, because everyone knows it didn’t and couldn’t deliver as promised The so-called assault weapon ban outlawed certain semi-automatic rifles with military-style cosmetic features unrelated to the performance characteristics of the firearm.

Violent crime has steadily dropped before, during and since the expiration of the ban. Gun accidents are now at an all-time low, while gun and ammunition sales are at an all-time high. Finally, rifles of all types have a statistically insignificant role in gun violence, according to the FBI uniform crime report. This issue is nothing more a political football kicked around to distract voters from the ineptitude of our leaders to fix the more pressing problems of joblessness, poverty, rampant foreclosure, and health care.

In every single state that has passed concealed weapon permit legislation, 48 out of 50, the same old chicken little dialog erupts. Alas, the sky does not fall, the old West doesn’t reappear, and blood does not “run in our streets”. What does happen where lawful citizens carry? Violent crime, especially gun crime plummets at a disproportionate rate. Home invasions, rapes, robberies, gay bashing, all fall in numbers wherever lawful, trained, and screened citizen exercise their gun rights.

The assertion by Feinstein and Bloomburg that the demise of this measure will save lives is undermined by the facts. Indeed, lives will be lost, rapes and robberies will be committed, and gay bashing will proceed unhindered by any fear that the victims may successfully resist the attacker.

In the next term, the Supreme Court of the United States will step in again where congress has failed, by incorporating (applying) the Second Amendment to the states as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals already has done in Nordyke vs Alameda County (2009).

One day soon, a lawful, peaceable gun owner will be able to enter the Kingdom of New York with his legally transported, locked, unloaded handgun, without risking a felony, as is the case in New York at present. New York State will not issue the required pistol permit under any circumstances to a non-resident. Forget about a carry permit, even if it’s unloaded and locked in your hotel safe, you are now facing a felony. This is the complete and utter disregard for the 2nd amendment that exists in New York, and Illinois. Policies such as this will fail any constitutional standard of review.

As the Heller vs DC court indicated and as common sense dictates, “keep” means own, store, transport, and possess, and “bear” means carry. Plain and simple. The scope of the Heller case happened to be limited to possession in the home. But some confuse the scope of that case with a restriction on the right. This is a misunderstanding that gun control extremists are seizing upon to spin the meaning of the Heller ruling. But no other fundamental constitutional right ends at your doorstep, and the courts will have plenty of opportunity to clarify the extent of permissible restrictions going forward.

Take a deep breath, folks.

Nationwide, licensed concealed carry is coming, and it’s going to be OK, really it will. The sky will not fall, nor will the old West reappear, and blood will not run in our streets. We don’t have to guess about the outcome. There are 40 states that already have mandatory issue for CCW licenses, and there are 8 more states that have discretionary licensing. Together, 48 States have demonstrated in the last decade that licensed, concealed carry works, that public safety and security is enhanced, and that as a public policy, it measurably suppresses violent crime.

Americans have demonstrated once again that we can be trusted with our own safety and security. And that we can and must be trusted with our liberty.

Visit Christopher J Hoffman website www.christopherjhoffman.com

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