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RALEIGH — A key concealed-carry bill could be on the U.S. House floor this week with Second Amendment supporters and law enforcement officers hoping for a big win.
The bill is introduced and sponsored by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and called the Concealed Carry and Reciprocity Act. It would make concealed carry permits valid across state lines. Currently, each state has its own set of rules and permits, some stronger than others.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) released the following statement Monday, Dec. 4, after his bipartisan bill, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, was scheduled for a House vote next week:
“An overwhelming majority of Americans support concealed carry reciprocity,” Hudson said. “Momentum, common sense and the facts are on our side. I want to thank Speaker Paul Ryan for his strong support of the Second Amendment, and I urge my colleagues to support this common-sense bill to protect law-abiding citizens.”
Legislation that enables concealed carry holders in different states to carry legally in other states comes to the House floor for a vote Wednesday.
North Carolina Republican Rep. Richard Hudson’s Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (H.R. 38) was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee last week following a contentious mark up along party lines.
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) told Breitbart News that it is time for Congress to listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans and pass national reciprocity for concealed carry.
Hudson was being interviewed on December 4 for the upcoming episode of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, when he said, “We’re going to have national reciprocity legislation on the House Floor probably Wednesday of this week. …[The] 73 percent of Americans who want to see reciprocity are finally going to have their day on the House floor.”
Gun-rights supporters are eyeing a big win this week as a bill that would make concealed-carry permits valid across state lines heads to the House floor -- though it faces long odds in the Senate amid deep-pocketed opposition from gun-control advocates.
“This is just simple, common-sense legislation that says if you’re a law-abiding citizen … we’re not going to turn you into a criminal just for crossing an invisible state line,” bill sponsor Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told “Fox News @ Night.”
U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to ensure federal and state authorities accurately report relevant criminal history records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
The bill, called the Fix NICS Act, penalizes federal agencies who fail to properly report relevant records. It also incentivizes states to improve their overall reporting and directs more federal funding to the accurate reporting of domestic violence records.
North Carolina resident Brian Fletcher, a utility tower climber, took a crew to Trenton, N.J., in June 2015 to help with storm-related emergency repairs. A police officer approached him while he was in a parking lot awaiting a work order, and Fletcher followed concealed carry protocol: He told the officer he had a gun in the vehicle and a permit to carry it.
A proposed bill that would require law enforcement to recognize concealed carry gun permits across state lines passed the House Judiciary Committee this week.
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), who sponsored the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, or H.R. 38, has taken to social media and conventional news channels to drum up support for the legislation, claiming it won’t make it easier for people to get guns or affect which types of firearms they can use. He said he hopes it will pass the greater House of Representatives by the end of the calendar year.
House Republicans are preparing to vote in the days ahead to loosen gun laws, hopeful the optics are friendlier now that the national political conversation has turned away from the recent mass shootings in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas.
The current Republican gambit is to bring three bills to the House floor this month as a single package.
U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson is touting the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act as “a simple, common-sense bill that seeks to protect law-abiding citizens.”
The bill, which passed the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, would allow people with a state-issued concealed carry permit to travel across state lines with authorized firearms.
States vary widely in their respective laws regarding the concealed carrying of a firearm. What is permissible in one might not be in another. Hudson’s legislation essentially equals the enforcement issue.