U.S. House to vote on Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act

By Seung Min Kim

If congressional gun-rights stalwarts get their way, a firearms owner with a concealed-weapons permit issued in Utah could be allowed to carry that gun in New York — regardless of the gun laws in the Empire State.

But as the House prepares to vote on a bill Wednesday that would allow that and please a core GOP constituency, critics are throwing another core Republican belief back at the party: states’ rights.

GOP backers of the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act — which would allow those with a concealed-weapons permit in one state to carry their firearms elsewhere as long as that state also allows concealed carrying — say they don’t see that as an issue.

“It’s kind of like having a driver’s license,” said Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), a vocal supporter of the bill who penned an op-ed in USA Today this week on the measure. “There are some states that have stricter driving laws than others.”

But their opponents — including one prominent Republican — are crying foul over the measure, arguing that the bill goes against the Republican Party’s core belief in states’ rights.

Rep. Dan Lungren of California was the sole GOP lawmaker on the House Judiciary Committee to reject the measure.

“It’s a clash of two interests: Second Amendment rights and the 10th Amendment, the idea of federalism,” Lungren said in an interview Tuesday. “I think it’s a states’ rights issue.”

Still, the bill has the support of a broad base of Republicans, as well as some Democrats.

“I don’t think it’s a violation of states’ rights because it doesn’t repeal any right that a state has to have or not have its own laws,” said Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.). “The fact is, we have a tradition in this country of upholding other states’ laws [and] allowing them to apply in other states.”

Currently, every state except Illinois issues some form of a concealed weapons permit that allows those who are licensed to carry guns. Standards and requirements vary from state to state — with some locations mandating more stringent training and background checks than others.

The patchwork of laws and requirements governing gun permits — and the fact that smaller groups of states have already agreed to accept each other’s gun permits — shows a need for some national standard on firearms licensing, advocates say.

“We need to have a uniform standard so that gun owners know that they’re not in legal jeopardy when they’re abiding by the law when they travel among states,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire, one of the several moderate Democrats who have backed the bill.

Last week, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to issue a veto threat on the bill, which they argued would force states, such as theirs, with stricter laws to “accept the weakest standards in the nation.”

As of Tuesday, the White House had given no statement of policy on the issue.

“It is particularly surprising for congressional Republicans to be pushing a measure that directly goes against their deep-rooted support for states’ rights,” Lautenberg and McCarthy wrote to Obama. “Indeed, under H.R. 822, state gun-safety laws would be rendered moot.”

In a letter last month, New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to oppose the bill if it came up in the Senate, charging that the measure would force almost every state to abandon its own gun laws.

For instance, the state of New York requires all gun license applicants to undergo a background check and a mental health review — measures that are not required in other states, Schneiderman said.

“This would create a lowest common denominator approach to public safety that would increase the threat to New Yorkers, impede the ability of law enforcement to do its job and undermine the will of our citizens as expressed through their duly elected state legislators,” Schneiderman wrote.

Brian Malte, director of mobilization for The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said Nevada and New Mexico formerly had an arrangement with Utah to recognize one another’s gun permits but ended those agreements because of Utah’s relatively lax concealed-carry requirements.

The current bill’s sponsor, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), said he acknowledges critics’ concerns over states’ rights but said, “I think to a certain extent, the deterrent value and the feeling of self-defense … has to be recognized here.”

The legislation, which Stearns introduced with Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), appears on track for swift passage. It has 245 co-sponsors, including several moderate Democrats, and the rule for the bill passed Tuesday 271-153, indicating that it should pass easily when it comes up for a final vote Wednesday. Thirty-five Democrats voted in favor of the rule.

The measure has support from House Republican leadership. During his weekly briefing with reporters on Monday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) defended putting the bill on the floor for a House vote.

“We are supportive of Second Amendment rights in the majority,” Cantor said.