Congress now has just one week left to pass the biggest pro-gun bill ever in American history.
I am, of course, talking about the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. This legislation would require states to treat concealed weapons permits the same way they treat out-of-state driver's licenses.
There are more than 15 million American citizens with concealed carry permits. Every day, they use these permits to save themselves, their families, and members of their communities.
Just this week, an armed robber walked into a Subway sandwich restaurant in Ukiah, Utah. Luckily, one of the customers was licensed to carry a concealed handgun and was able to shoot the armed robber before anyone else was hurt.
I have a Utah concealed carry permit. Not because I live in Utah or visit Utah frequently, but because I used to live in New Jersey, a state that refuses to issue anyone a concealed carry permit.
I was going to school in Philadelphia and wanted to be able to defend myself. Pennsylvania only issued non-resident permits to people already licensed by their home state (which was impossible for me). So, I had to get creative. I took the Utah concealed carry class and that state's permit gave me reciprocity in PA. But with a few months left of my program, the Pennsylvania Attorney General decided to stop honoring Utah permits. She just didn't like that people like me were using a Utah permit to be able to defend themselves in her state.
A quarter of all Americans live in anti-gun states like New Jersey, California, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Hawaii that refuse to issue their residents carry permits. The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act would change that forever. Not only would existing carry permit holders be able to exercise their right to bear arms in all 50 states, but the law-abiding Americans living behind the gun control iron curtain would finally have a path to carry!
We are so close to making this dream a reality and restoring this civil right to the country. But if Congress does not put the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act onto President Trump's desk by the end of the week, the bill will die.
Don't let the GOP kill the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act! Send your instant and urgent FaxBlast to Congress right now and DEMAND they pass the bill and send it to Trump's desk!
We are calling on both the House and the Senate to do everything in their power to push this legislation across the finish line. A test vote in the House revealed a bipartisan majority backed the legislation. However, neither Paul Ryan nor Mitch McConnell are willing to do whatever is necessary to send it to the President's desk.
Paul Ryan had a chance last year to push the bill through by attaching it to a spending package. But at the last minute, Ryan struck a deal with Democrats and pushed through a major gun control measure instead.
This bill has been sitting on Mitch McConnell's desk for well over a year, just collecting dust He refuses to bring it up for a vote, claiming the timing isn't right.
We spoke directly with GOP leaders last spring and they promised that we would see a vote on the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act by the end of the year. All of a sudden, our contacts have gone completely silent.
Paul Ryan has the votes to add it to whatever appropriations bill he wants. It hasn't happened because Paul Ryan doesn't actually want concealed carry reciprocity to pass. Mitch McConnell could push it through right now with multiple Democrat votes, but he is more interested in preserving the Senate rules than restoring tens of millions of Americans' rights.
Right now, it is impossible for any civilian to exercise their right to bear arms in all 50 states. Congress has given police and retired police the right to carry nationwide, but the best any civilian can do is approximately 40 states of reciprocity. And that is only if they happen to live in a state that issues concealed weapons permits. More than a quarter of all Americans live in states that refuse to do even that.
This is an opportunity to pass the biggest civil rights bill to come along in a generation. It is certainly the biggest pro-gun bill ever. We have a chance to not only expand and restore the 2nd Amendment, but to protect it for generations to come.
But right now, the GOP is running out the clock. They would rather prioritize a prison reform package to let criminals out of prison then restore the rights of Americans to defend themselves!
A week, that is all we've got... If we don't fight right now, it will be too late...
Please, send your instantly delivered letter to Congress before it's too late and DEMAND an immediate vote to send the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act to President Trump's desk!
I have lived in an anti-gun state before. I know what it is like to apply for a permit to carry and be denied for not having a "justifiable need" to defend myself in public. I was forced to jump through hoops and get a permit from Utah just so I could defend myself while traveling across state lines. Thank God that I did because within weeks of getting that permit, I was forced to draw my weapon in self-defense to stop a robbery.
But I also know what it is like to be disarmed. To be told by states that my permit was no longer honored and have been forced to disarm and lock my pistol in the trunk of my car on cross-country trips because the states that I was traveling through didn't honor either of my two different concealed weapons permits.
It shouldn't be this way. The 2nd Amendment protects the right to carry a gun for self-defense. That doesn't just mean up to your property line or the state boundary... the 2nd Amendment applies nationwide!
This legislation would make that simple truth the law of the land and restore tens of millions of people's carry rights in the process.
We are running out of time. This time next week, Congress will adjourn and hand the gavel over to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats. This is our last chance to push this common sense pro-gun bill through.
President Trump has promised to sign the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act when it reaches his desk. Trump has a concealed carry permit and understands the hassle of trying to use it across state lines.
But if the GOP doesn't pass the bill in the next week, Trump will never get the chance to sign it...
Please, help us!
Please, send your instantly delivered letter to Congress before it's too late and DEMAND an immediate vote to send the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act to President Trump's desk!
Sincerely,
Max McGuire
Advocacy Director
Conservative Daily
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