United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- In the 116th Congress, Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced improvements to the Firearms Owners Protection Act’s provisions regarding travelers with firearms, known as the Lawful Interstate Transportation of Firearms Act of 2019. Having won a well-deserved re-election bid, he has now re-introduced the legislation, which is labeled S 525 in the 117th Congress. Text of the legislation is not available as of this writing, but it is safe to assume it will be similar to what he introduced in the last Congress.
As we discussed with this legislation earlier, this is needed to address the local and state officials in certain states and localities who seem to think that harassing law-abiding travelers somehow improves public safety. It didn’t when New Jersey persecuted Meg Fellenbaum and Shaneen Allen, and there is no reason to believe that such harassment will do to improve safety now or in the future.
The fact of the matter is that the provisions originally passed clearly needed to be spelled out to address the fact that anti-Second Amendment extremists have gained strangleholds for a while in a number of jurisdictions. Under current law, travelers have to risk arrest and criminal charges for stopping to fill their gas tank or to fix a flat tire. Medical emergencies – already expensive enough these days – could also open one up to legal expenses should an anti-Second Amendment prosecutor decide to pad his stats in pursuit of higher office. And nobody should have to choose between driving while fatigued or risking arrest if he or she stops at a motel or rest stop for the night.
The unacceptable nature of these potential situations should be clear. But S 525 only has five co-sponsors. There are a lot of Senators who claim to support the Second Amendment – like Mitt Romney – who would not face any difficulty in running for re-election by co-sponsoring this legislation. John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are among those who haven’t signed on.
While this legislation has little chance of becoming law due to the fact that anti-Second Amendment extremists control the House, Senate, and White House, the co-sponsorship or lack of co-sponsorship by Senators is something worth gauging. Some Senators may warrant replacing. Others may end up being like Susan Collins, who Second Amendment supporters keep in place to avert the election of a true anti-Second Amendment extremist.
Second Amendment supporters should contact their Representative and Senators to urge them to support the passage of this bill, and to co-sponsor it if they haven’t already. In addition, they need to support the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action and Political Victory Fund to ensure that the current anti-Second Amendment regimes in the House, Senate, and White House are defeated at the ballot box as soon as possible.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
While trying improve FOPA, the one thing that needs to go is the Hughes Amendment.
The only change I wanna see in the FOPA is a repeal of the Hughes Amendment that those treacherous butters and Fudds like Harold and the NRA let Reagan shove up our ass.
“There are a lot of Senators who claim to support the Second Amendment”, yeah, they ALL do when they take the Oath to protect the Constitution.