— Urge your congressmen to cosponsor the Stutzman bill

ACTION: Contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to cosponsor the “constitutional carry” friendly reciprocity bills (H.R. 923 and S. 498).

Last week, Congressman Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) introduced H.R. 923, a concealed carry reciprocity bill that will prohibit anti-gun states like New York and California from cancelling the Second Amendment rights of Americans from other states.

If you have a concealed carry permit — or if you come from a freedom-loving “constitutional carry” state that  doesn’t require one! — you should be able to carry anywhere in the country without fear of losing your constitutional rights because of where you are.

Stutzman Bill Protects Constitutional Carry States

There are six constitutional carry states — and about a dozen states that are considering such laws this year. The Stutzman bill is quite different from competing bills which would require states like Vermont to change their pro-gun laws so that their citizens could enjoy reciprocity.

By contrast, Stutzman’s H.R. 923 imposes NO RESTRICTIONS upon pro-gun states that recognize the right of citizens to carry without a permit.

To be clear, his bill would NOT force citizens living in constitutional carry states to get a permit to travel out-of-state — something that competing reciprocity bills would do.

Stutzman Bill Protects God-given Rights

A few GOA members have written us, arguing that reciprocity legislation is unnecessary because the Second Amendment recognizes the God-given right to carry wherever we want. 

We agree that Americans have that God-given right. 

But sometimes a “right” — even a God-given right — needs a mechanism to enforce it against a lawless tyrannical government and a politicized judiciary. When Shaneen Allen was arrested in New Jersey for carrying a firearm with a Pennsylvania concealed carry license, the Garden State was flagrantly denying Shaneen’s God-given rights and acting unconstitutionally.

Shaneen faced over a decade in prison — and was only exonerated when gun owners pressured Governor Chris Christie, whose presidential ambitions made him unusually receptive to our message. So consider this: When you carry concealed in New York, New Jersey, California, or another state, the fact that you are “right” isn’t going to keep you from going to prison for decades — unless the Stutzman bill is passed into law and force these lawless states to comply.

On the other side of Capitol Hill, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has introduced S. 498, a companion bill to Stutzman’s.

ACTION: Contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to cosponsor the “constitutional carry” friendly reciprocity bills (H.R. 923 and S. 498).