GOP seeks to expand right-to-carry :: 10/27/2011

WASHINGTON - In the latest skirmish over guns, House Republicans on Tuesday advanced a bill that would expand the rights of concealed firearms permit-holders, allowing them to carry hidden weapons in any state that issues permits.

The GOP-dominated House Judiciary Committee approved the bill - the Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act - by a 19-11 vote mostly along party lines after debate earlier this month that highlighted the partisan divide between advocates of allowing states to craft their own limitations on guns and those putting Second Amendment rights above state autonomy.

Even if the bill passes the Republican-controlled House, however, it would meet stiff resistance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Every state except for Illinois has some sort of law allowing the carrying of concealed guns. Under the current system, states must negotiate direct agreements to recognize one another's permits.

A uniform standard

. . ."This bill simply allows Americans who travel in interstate commerce to bring their Second Amendment rights with them," Committee Chairman Lamar Smith , R-San Antonio, said earlier this month.

'Race to the bottom'

. . . But Brian Malte , spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, called the legislation a "race to the bottom," saying it would force states to accept concealed-carry permits from states with far weaker licensing standards.

"It would undermine a state's ability to set its own laws about who can carry from out of state," he said.

Malte said law enforcement officers also don't have the technological means to verify whether an individual is licensed to carry a concealed gun in another state.