In case you missed it, during yesterday’s meeting with bipartisan members of Congress, President Trump threw cold water on the idea of attaching the NRA’s number one legislative priority, concealed carry reciprocity, to any gun safety measure in the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“I think that maybe that bill will someday pass but it should pass as a separate” bill, Trump replied to Scalise.
“If you’re going to put concealed carry between states into this bill, we’re talking about a whole new ballgame. And you know I’m with you but let it be a separate bill,” he continued.
“You’ll never get this passed if you add concealed carry to this, you’ll never get it passed.”
Concealed carry reciprocity, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives after Republicans co-opted the modest Fix NICS reporting bill, would not create a national standard for who can carry a concealed handgun in public. Instead, it would force each state to accept the concealed carry standards of every other state, even states that have weak standards, or worse, no standards at all. In other words, it would undermine state gun laws, and force states to allow people with dangerous histories and no gun safety training to carry hidden, loaded guns within their borders. This isn’t hypothetical: 12 states don’t require a concealed carry permit in order to carry a concealed gun in public, while 19 states don’t require any gun safety training. That’s why a majority of law enforcement groups from across the country oppose it.
Here’s what media are saying:
Politico: Trump: Bill combining concealed carry and gun background checks will ‘never pass’
Axios: Trump: Concealed carry bill “will never pass”
The Hill: Trump: Background checks will ‘never’ pass if concealed carry is attached
CNN: Trump shuts down Scalise’s concealed carry push
Quartz: Trump’s defiance of the NRA could keep Congress from gutting state gun laws
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