House committee approves NRA-backed concealed carry bill, as other gun measures stall

WASHINGTON — A key House panel passed legislation Wednesday to expand the rights of concealed carry permit holders — the National Rifle Association’s top legislative priority — as part of the first congressional action on gun legislation since this fall’s mass shootings.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 19-11 in favor of the “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act” Wednesday, after rejecting numerous attempts by Democrats to amend the bill. The members also approved a less controversial bill 17-6 to boost authorities' compliance with the federal background check system.

The bills are the only gun-related measures that currently show any promise of moving through Congress. Other measures proposed by gun-control advocates in the wake of the shootings, including the expansion of background checks or a ban on rapid-fire devices such as "bump stocks," remain stalled.

The concealed carry bill would require each state to recognize concealed carry permits from every other state — as they would a driver’s license — regardless of different permitting standards. Residents of states that don't require permits to carry a concealed weapon would be able to carry their weapons in other states that allow concealed carry, as long as they abide by local laws.

It would also allow off-duty law enforcement officers and certain retired officers to carry a concealed firearm in a school zone.

Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the way to combat gun violence is "not to infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens, but to enforce the laws against criminals."

"This bill is about the simple proposition that law-abiding Americans should be able to exercise their right to self defense, even when they cross out of their state's borders," he said. "That is their Constitutional right."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, of New York, the committee's highest-ranking Democrat, called the bill "terrible public policy," and said it "will only endanger the citizens of the states whose laws will be overruled."

The bill is expected to advance quickly to the House floor, perhaps as early as next week. It likely would have a tougher time in the Senate, where it would need Democratic votes to pass, though similar legislation came within three votes of advancing in 2013.

The action follows two of the deadliest shootings in modern U.S. history. In October, a gunman killed 58 people and wounded more than 500 in Las Vegas. A month later, another gunman opened fire in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 25 people including a pregnant woman whose unborn baby also died.

“When we finally get the House Republicans to do something about guns, we’re all completely horrified that the one thing they’ll do is to make it easier for people to carry concealed loaded firearms anywhere in America they want,” said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.

Gun control advocates are fighting the bill, saying it endangers public safety and makes it harder for police to enforce gun laws by forcing states with strong permitting standards to honor permits from states with weaker ones.

While every state and the District of Columbia allows the carrying of concealed weapons in some form, 38 states generally require a state-issued permit to carry in public and the remaining 12 generally allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons in public without a permit, according to Giffords Law Center. States currently determine which states' permits they will honor.

Republicans "want to override our state laws to allow the lowest common denominator to govern in Maryland,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

The NRA has lobbied intensely for the bill, urging its passage as part of its response to the Las Vegas shooting. They say it would eliminate a confusing patchwork of state concealed-carry laws and reciprocity agreements that can cause a law-abiding gun owner to unwittingly break the law while traveling out of state.

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., the bill’s sponsor, told USA TODAY earlier this month that the shootings at a Las Vegas concert and Texas church only intensified his colleagues and constituents’ interest in his bill, reinforcing the belief that carrying a concealed weapon is an important way to protect and defend themselves.

The committee defeated an amendment by Nadler that would have banned anyone convicted of a violent misdemeanor in the past three years from carrying a concealed weapon in a state where that conviction would disqualify them from carrying in public.

During the debate, Democratic Rep. Karen Bass of California, asked Goodlatte, “Should everybody in the United States carry guns?”

Goodlatte answered “only those who are law abiding” and with proper applications. He referred to federal law, which bars gun ownership after certain misdemeanor convictions, and said there has to be a “uniform definition.”

Other amendments by Democrats that were defeated included measures that would have:

• protected state laws banning firearms on private property, such as bars. Republicans argued the bill doesn’t supersede state laws allowing businesses and individuals to restrict firearms on their property.

• expanded background checks.

• required the permits to be issued in the states where the holder resides.

“I’m just astonished that the NRA is taking over this legislative proceeding,” said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.

The separate background check legislation is supported by both the NRA and gun control advocates. The bill came as a response to the Texas shooting, which might have been prevented if authorities had reported the gunman’s violent history.

That bill penalizes federal agencies that fail to properly report relevant records and provides incentives to states to improve their overall reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The bill also directs more federal funding to the accurate reporting of domestic violence records.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., announced on Tuesday that the Senate version of the bill now has enough Republican co-sponsors to overcome a filibuster.