Facing a looming Republican-dominated Congress under the right-wing President-elect Donald Trump, gun control advocates warn that local gun restrictions are about to be “eviscerated.”
Many Republican members of Congress have long sought to pass sweeping national right-to-carry legislation, to force “reciprocity” between states when it comes to right-to-carry legislation.
Reciprocity legislation has been a major priority of the National Rifle Association (NRA), which endorsed Trump’s candidacy.
Under such a law, a person with a concealed-carry permit in West Virginia would be able to legally carry a firearm in New York City as well, avoiding the city’s lengthy and expensive permitting process. It would also allow residents of areas with strict gun control to travel to states with loose restrictions, purchase a gun, and legally carry that gun when they return back home.
The Guardian reported Monday: “Trump, who himself has a permit to carry a concealed firearm, has already endorsed a new reciprocity law as part of his gun rights platform. Concealed-carry permits from one state ‘should be valid in all 50 states,’ his platform reads, calling the proposal ‘common sense.'”
The president-elect also promised to appoint judges with a right-wing stance on guns to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Purchasing a firearm in many locales is already extremely easy, and a “growing number of states—10 and counting […] require no permit at all to carry a concealed weapon, a policy often called ‘constitutional carry,'” writes the Guardian.
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