Gunleaders Blog

Red Dawn was one of my favorite movies. It’s essentially a “David vs. Goliath” story but it is one that emphatically shows the possible results of citizen disarmament. The bottom line – gun control supporters and those who weren’t prepared to defend themselves and their loved ones end up in re-education prison camps, armed citizens have a chance to fight back. Spoiler: The armed citizens fare much better. The story begins with an audacious invasion by pro-communist forces who score rapid initial victories and seize territory within the continental United States. Then the American armed forces strike back and eventually a stalemate ensues dividing the country into “Free America” and “Occupied America”. As with any adversarial dealings with the US Armed Forces, it doesn’t turn out well for the invaders in the end…

Ironically gun owners now face a very similar division of the country to the Red Dawn “Free America” vs. “Occupied America”. Though we are not able to trace the current political division to an invasion, our rights have most certainly been attacked by an enemy far more evil and insidious than communists. Power hungry politicians bent on controlling every aspect of our lives. They have successfully driven a wedge into the country’s psyche and polarized the citizen’s rights debate. It has left gun owners with a seemingly insurmountable stack of firearm prohibitions and ‘regulation to obscurity’ laws rendering it practically impossible to protect yourself out of your home state. All 50 states have different laws & regulations for firearms, many of them very difficult to decipher. Some states outlaw open carry, some states selectively outlaw open carry, most states outlaw concealed carry without a permit, reciprocity and recognition agreements are all over the map (figuratively) so that you might be perfectly legal in one state, but a felon in the next state having a loaded firearm. Some of the “Occupied America” states won’t even recognize your ability to transport a firearm despite federal law enabling this.

This divided America concept has found some strange allies recently. Some in the so called ‘pro-RKBA’ grassroots community have been attacking the NRA-ILA supported bill cosponsored by US Representatives Stearns & Shuler to mandate states recognize (concealed) carry permits from other states. As previously discussed they offer numerous excuses why the bill shouldn’t be supported and lay claim to the Utopian idea that magically all 50 states will adopt permitless carry instead. An interesting “suggestion” by some of these “Occupied America” champions has been that the bill would “give the Federal government too much power” and that it’s a trojan horse. Followed no doubt by the battle cry “REPEAL GCA ’68!” Ok – what specifically are these people doing to accomplish a repeal of ‘GCA ’68′ ?

Does the bill “give the feds more power” or does it prevent states from infringing the right to self defense? Here’s the text of the bill and a link to the source on Thomas (LOC):

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.822:

`(a) Notwithstanding any provision of the law of any State or political subdivision thereof, related to the carrying or transportation of firearms, a person who is not prohibited by Federal law from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm, and who is carrying a government-issued photographic identification document and a valid license or permit which is issued pursuant to the law of a State and which permits the person to carry a concealed firearm, may carry a concealed handgun (other than a machinegun or destructive device) that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, in any State, other than the State of residence of the person, that–
`(1) has a statute that allows residents of the State to obtain licenses or permits to carry concealed firearms; or
`(2) does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms by residents of the State for lawful purposes.
`(b) A person carrying a concealed handgun under this section shall be permitted to carry a handgun subject to the same conditions or limitations that apply to residents of the State who have permits issued by the State or are otherwise lawfully allowed to do so by the State.
`(c) In a State that allows the issuing authority for licenses or permits to carry concealed firearms to impose restrictions on the carrying of firearms by individual holders of such licenses or permits, a firearm shall be carried according to the same terms authorized by an unrestricted license or permit issued to a resident of the State.
`(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to preempt any provision of State law with respect to the issuance of licenses or permits to carry concealed firearms.’.
(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of sections for such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 926C the following:
`926D. Reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms.’.
(c) Severability- Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, if any provision of this section, or any amendment made by this section, or the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, this section and amendments made by this section and the application of such provision or amendment to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
(d) Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall take effect 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(d) above (the one that begins “nothing in this section) is particularly important for the “States rights” crowd. So where is ‘new’ federal authority here? Interstate Commerce? How new is that? It’s part of the Constitution, and has been solidified since Wickard v. Filburn. Sure the commerce clause has been abused by the Congress and courts, most recently against us were the ’95 & subsequent gun free school zone act, Raich & the subsequent US vs. Stewart cases. Now we have a situation in which the US House is trying to enforce the right to self defense with a firearm via the Commerce Clause to help prevent the “accidental felon” in “Occupied America, and enforce the McDonald US Supreme Court ruling upon the states.

This bill leverages existing authority of the Congress and compels the states which have permit systems or don’t criminalize concealed carry at all to recognize similar permits. It would prevent the states who represent “Occupied America” from criminalizing persons who are carrying firearms for personal protection.

How about this – once all 50 states adopt a permit-less carry option, the “Occupied America” supporters can work to repeal this law?

In the mean time…

Since 50 state permit-less carry is not dealing with political reality, gun rights supporters need to get off their respective duffs and support HR822 and work to get an identical bill in the US Senate. True grassroots pro-right to keep and bear arms supporters didn’t get shall issue in the majority of the US by sitting around waiting for someone else to act, they changed the law by getting out there and letting their actions speak. HR822 will expand the political “Free America”, will weaken the “Occupied America” forces and better allow citizens to protect themselves while traveling.