John Richardson has the scoop on this one. Introduced by Cliff Stearns of Florida and co-sponsored by Heath Shuler of North Carolina, the bill seeks to enforce national reciprocity for carry permits.
Two years ago, Senators Thune and Coburn attempted to pass a similar bill by amending it to the Defense Department budget. It failed by only two votes then, and the landscape is much more amenable to it now.
That is, if the Tea Party still believes all that stuff they did last November.
This bill is a bit better written and argued than the Thune Amendment. In the findings, it states:
The Congress has the power to pass legislation to protect against infringement of all rights protected under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
…which, as per McDonald v. Chicago, includes the 2nd Amendment. However, in the time since the Supreme Court’s verdict, the circuit and district courts have narrowly interpreted it to apply only to firearms kept in the home. This brings us to the second salient point:
The right to bear arms includes the right to carry arms for self-defense and the defense of others.
That’s putting some teeth on the poodle. There are lawsuits in the works in New Jersey, Maryland, and California trying to prove that very point. If passed, this law would render those moot, and those states would have to make the permitting process more workable.
The 14th Amendment approach also neatly sidesteps the bizarre 10th Amendment arguments we saw from legislators in California and New Jersey last time around.
Now, does it stand a chance? I think so, but not in this exact form. Sure, it can easily pass in the House, but it could wither in the Senate. As a stand-alone bill, I sincerely doubt the President would sign it.
However, I’m to understand that Senator Thune is looking at adding it as an amendment to one or more of this administration’s “must pass” bills. My guess is that it’ll end up attached to a budget ceiling bill, leaving the President no choice. Sound familiar? That’s how we got carry in national parks, only six months into Obama’s first term.
One of my concerns with the Thune Amendment was that restrictive states might react to the flood of out-of-towners and simply cease issuing permits at all to their residents altogether to get out of the deal. Under that scheme, it was possible.
However, the 14th Amendment wording here is important. If a state chooses to cease issuing carry permits altogether, there will be a fresh set of court challenges, with little doubt as to the outcome.
This could be the real foot in the door.