Concealed Carry Reciprocity Would Weaken State Gun Laws, Allow People With Dangerous Histories and No Training to Carry Hidden, Loaded Handguns in Public
NEW YORK – Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown, today released the following statements as the House Judiciary Committee moved H.R. 38, the dangerous “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017,” out of committee on a party-line vote.
STATEMENT FROM JOHN FEINBLATT, PRESIDENT OF EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY:
“House Republicans have ignored growing opposition from the law enforcement community, mayors and the American public in order to push the gun lobby’s number one priority, ‘concealed carry reciprocity.’ This chaotic proposal would weaken state gun laws, and make it easy for people with dangerous histories and no training to carry hidden, loaded guns in public across the country. Everytown and Moms Demand Action will work tirelessly to defeat ‘concealed carry reciprocity,’ and in the voting booth next fall, Americans will remember who supported this dangerous legislation.”
STATEMENT FROM LUCY McBATH, WHOSE SON JORDAN DAVIS WAS SHOT AND KILLED AT A GAS STATION IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA ON NOVEMBER 23, 2012. LUCY IS CURRENTLY A NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON AND THE FAITH AND OUTREACH LEADER FOR EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY AND MOMS DEMAND ACTION. LUCY ATTENDED TODAY’S MARKUP IN THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE:
“Five years ago this month, a bullet killed my son and tore a hole in my heart. Since then I’ve gained a new purpose: advocating for gun safety and helping to prevent other families from experiencing the same pain of having a loved one taken by gun violence. Congress needs to realize that Americans demand stronger gun safety laws and reject the NRA’s dangerous priorities. Moms Demand Action and our grassroots army will work tirelessly to hold members of Congress accountable if they choose to support the gun lobby’s dangerous agenda.”
Right now, every state sets different standards for who can carry a hidden, loaded handgun in public. Concealed carry reciprocity would not create a national standard for who can carry a concealed handgun in public. Instead, it would force every state to accept the concealed carry standards of every other state, even states that have weaker standards, or, worse, no standards at all. This isn’t hypothetical: 19 states don’t require any gun safety training in order to carry a concealed handgun in public; 12 states don’t require a permit or background check; and other states allow many domestic abusers or people convicted of violent misdemeanors to carry concealed handguns in public. Concealed carry reciprocity would make communities less safe by forcing every state to allow untrained people and people with dangerous histories to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public.
From our nation’s law enforcement community to mayors, opposition to concealed carry reciprocity is widespread. Last month, a group of seventeen attorneys general released a letter opposing the policy. The National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, which includes many of the nation’s largest law enforcement organizations, and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors have also opposed concealed carry reciprocity. And just yesterday, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys wrote a letter to Congress urging them to oppose concealed carry reciprocity.
Additionally, a Pew survey released in June found that 81 percent of Americans oppose allowing people to carry concealed weapons without a permit. Concealed carry reciprocity would force states to allow concealed carry by many people with no permit.