Yesterday, a gun man brought a shotgun into the West Freeway Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas and opened fire on parishioners.

When he pulled out his shotgun, one parishioner stood up and started drawing his own sidearm to defend himself. Unfortunately, the man wasn't fast enough on the draw and was gunned down. But almost immediately after this first shot was fired, another armed parishioner (shown above) drew his pistol and killed the gunman with a single well placed headshot.

As the killer fell to the ground, no less than five churchgoers drew their weapons in self-defense.

Had this happened last year, the church would have been defenseless. After the Sutherland Springs shooting, Texas changed its gun laws to finally allow law-abiding churchgoers to carry firearms for self-defense.

And it payed off. While the gunman was able to kill two people, there is no doubt that the shooting would have been much worse had churchgoers not been armed. The gunman was literally neutralized just seconds after firing the first shot...

The Church's Minister, Britt Farmer, gave a press conference last night. In it, he thanked the State of Texas for changing the law and allowing his churchgoers to carry firearms and defend the congregation.

But right now, more than 25% of Americans are denied this basic right. 1 in every 4 Americans live in states that refuse to allow residents, or out of state visitors, to exercise their right to bear arms.

That must change!

 Please, help put pressure on Congress before it's too late! Send your instantly delivered letter to Congress right now and DEMAND an immediate vote on the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act!

Unfortunately, we also saw this week what can happen when congregants are not allowed to carry firearms to defend themselves. On the seventh night of Hanukkah, a man stormed a Rabbi's home and stabbed 5 people with a machete.

Because New York makes it next to impossible to get a concealed carry permit, the Jewish victims in the stabbing were unarmed. They were powerless to stop the attacker.

That is the difference.

In states like California, New Jersey, and New York, residents are blocked from getting concealed carry permits. Even if they meet all of the qualifications, these liberal governments don't believe that average citizens should be allowed to defend themselves in public. When you add it all up, more than a quarter of all Americans live in states that refuse to allow citizens to carry.

It doesn't have to be this way. Texas Senator John Cornyn believes he has the solution.

It is called the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. The bill would require that all 50 states honor each other's concealed carry permits. That means if someone is licensed or permitted to carry in one state, then their license and permit would be valid nationwide.

The way this helps gun owners living in anti-gun states is that the bill applies to non-resident permits as well. So if you are a law abiding citizen living in a state like New York, and the police refuse to issue you a carry permit, you would be able to get a non-resident carry permit from Utah or Florida and then use that to carry in your home state!

This legislation would tear down more than a century of anti-gun laws and restore the 2nd Amendment to how the founders intended.

Yesterday's shooting proves that when law abiding citizens are allowed to carry, they can save lives. There is no telling how many people would have died in that church if there weren't armed churchgoers there to confront the gunman...

All law abiding Americans deserve the right to carry!

 Please, help put pressure on Congress before it's too late! Send your instantly delivered letter to Congress right now and DEMAND an immediate vote on the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act!

We often get people writing in and asking whether the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act would be constitutional. Many times, people wonder whether it would violate states' rights.

It would not violate states' rights. The 14th Amendment ensures that no state has the right to violate the liberties reserved to the people. Whenever a state is caught violating the people's rights, the 14th Amendment requires that Congress intervene and stop them.

The Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act would do just that. Not only would it restore the right to carry to the 25% of Americans living in these anti-gun states, but it would also fix the country's patchwork reciprocity system. Concealed carry permits would, for the first time, be honored nationwide.

The bill has already been introduced. A House version is also picking up steam and amazingly, there are even some Democrats supporting it as well.

We have a chance, right now, to make sure that all law-abiding Americans have a right to defend themselves in public. We have a chance to tear down a century of state-level anti-gun laws and finally restore the 2nd Amendment to how the founders intended.

Sen. Cornyn has gotten the green light from McConnell, which is how the bill got such a low legislative number (69). But it is going to be up to you to hold Congress' feet to the fire and force the vote!

A right delayed is a right denied. Don't let the GOP stall any more!

 Please, help put pressure on Congress before it's too late! Send your instantly delivered letter to Congress right now and DEMAND an immediate vote on the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act!

No surrender,

Joe Otto

Conservative Daily