Reflecting on 50 Years of Gun Rights at the 2025 NRA Annual Meeting

As this correspondent sits in the Press Office at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the NRA in Atlanta, Georgia, there is time to reflect on the enormous progress which has been made in restoring rights protected by the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights.

The first time I was in Atlanta for more than a plane exchange was within a month or two of 51 years ago, while on active duty in the United States Army, in 1974. This correspondent attended the NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta in 2017.

In 1974, traveling across state lines with firearms was a perilous proposition. It would be 12 years before the Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA) was passed, with intense lobbying by the NRA. Peaceably carrying unloaded firearms locked in your vehicle was subject to various state and local laws. This incremental improvement of lawful interstate carry is often ignored by people discussing FOPA.

There was no permit to carry in Texas. There was a somewhat ambiguous exception for carrying while traveling. You could carry on your own land in Texas.

In 1974, there were may issue permits by local Sheriffs in Georgia and Mississippi for residents.  Alabama had a shall-issue permit system, which depended on the local sheriffs.

In 1974, this correspondent was acutely aware of the many legal vulnerabilities associated with carrying arms across state lines. Traveling under orders while on active duty with the army provided some protection.

The situation had improved significantly by the time of the 2017 trip to the NRA Annual meeting from Texas to Georgia.

FOPA had been passed. As long as you could legally possess firearms where you were going and where you had been, federal law gave you some protection. Georgia and Mississippi passed a shall issue law in 1989. Texas passed a shall-issue permit law in 1995. Louisiana became shall-issue in 1996. Louisiana passed an improved Right to Carry amendment to its Constitution in 2012. They had a shall-issue permit and open carry. In 2016, Mississippi joined the Constitutional Carry club.

In 2025, Constitutional Carry (permitless carry) became law in 29 states. When the 30th state will join the club is uncertain. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia are all Constitutional Carry States. The Supreme Court issued the landmark Bruen decision in June 2022.  About a dozen recalcitrant states still fight to prevent the exercise of rights protected by the Second Amendment.  Numerous cases are in the courts. A second Trump presidency makes nullification of the Second Amendment by the courts unlikely.

In 1974 it seemed the battle for Constitutional government had been lost. Progressive philosophy was in power nearly everywhere. President Reagan was in the future, the Cold war was in full swing. Vietnam was still a hot war. This correspondent decided to fight for recognition of Second Amendment rights because giving up meant giving up the rule of law. In many ways, it meant giving up on the idea of limited government.

Contrary to expectations, Second Amendment supporters have been mostly winning for the last 40 years.

Much remains to be done. Don’t forget how much has been accomplished by steady incrementalism. The facts, the culture, and the Constitution are with Second Amendment supporters. The primary tools of our opponents are lies and emotional deception.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.