Late Tuesday evening, H.R. 38 — National Concealed Carry Reciprocity — passed the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 18-9 and will now head to the House Floor for a full vote.
The House Judiciary Committee held its first mark-up on firearms-related bills for the 119th Congress on Tuesday.
Among those bills, H.R. 38 was the main focus of the vote. Democrats offered a handful of amendments and debated the bill into the early hours of the evening.
The National Association for Gun Rights had been pressuring the committee and Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) to add Congressman Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) H.R. 645 — Real Constitutional Carry bill — to the mark-up schedule for a vote.
Constitutional Carry is the simple idea that if someone is legally allowed to own a firearm, they should be able to carry that firearm without being treated like a common criminal and pay exorbitant fees just to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
A total of 29 states already recognize some form of Constitutional Carry. The National Association for Gun Rights believes it’s time to bring Constitutional Carry to the over 180 million Americans who still like in the 21 restrictive carry states.
Leading up to the mark-up, NAGR Staff was on Capitol Hill, delivering petitions to members of the committee, urging them to take up H.R. 645.
During the mark-up, Congressman Massie did bring forth an amendment to match H.R. 38’s bill language to match his bill.
Unfortunately, his amendment was withdrawn when it became clear not all of the Republicans on the committee were willing to support it.
As NAGR’s Vice President, Ryan Flugaur stated after the mark-up:
“It is disappointing to see that lawmakers once again ran from the pro-gun mandate given to House Republicans last November.
NAGR claims there is nothing stopping Chairman Jim Jordan from holding another mark-up hearing on H.R. 645 and there is nothing stopping House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Rules Committee from allowing a Real Constitutional Carry amendment during the highly-anticipated floor debate.
NAGR is still gathering petitions and citizen co-sponsors for H.R. 645.
