Constitutional carry is advancing in 2021. Two states have already signed it into law so far this year and several more have bills working their way through their legislatures that would eliminate government licensing for exercising an enumerated civil right.
What is Constitutional Carry?
For those just tuning in, Constitutional Carry means a state doesn’t require a permit or licensing process for concealed or open carry. There still may be significant restrictions on where one can do that, as places such as schools and government buildings may still be designated as off limits.
Contrary to the gun control community’s hair-on-fire scare tactics, laws prohibit felons, those who a court has determined are mentally incompetent, and other potentially dangerous people from even possessing a gun are still in effect. It’s still illegal for such “prohibited persons” to possess a firearm.
Constitutional carry simply means that people who already can pass a background check to purchase a firearm from an FFL are allowed to carry one without a government-issued permission slip. It’s called constitutional carry because it respects the constitutionally-protected rights of citizens to keep and bear arms.
Vermont has had permitless carry for more than a century because the state never prohibited it. A local government attempted to prohibit concealed carry, but that ordinance was struck down in a state court decision in 1903. The right to carry, however, slowly eroded in every other state. In many cases the infringements of gun rights started out as Jim Crow laws that were theoretically applicable to all people, but in practice were only used against former slaves and other minorities.
In the last four decades the tide has clearly turned. First, a growing number of states allowed concealed carry with a state permit. Then, in 2003, Alaska enacted permitless carry. Arizona followed in 2010, becoming first state with significant urban population to eliminate permit requirements. Other states like Idaho, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Mississippi have since done the same.
Is It Dangerous?
Every time a state considers removing the permit requirement, the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex storms the legislature, raising dire predictions about how it will increase the murder rate, result in shootouts over parking spaces and be abused by criminals. They usually dig up a few useful big city police chiefs to claim constitutional carry will make things more dangerous for law enforcement.
Blood will run ankle-deep in the streets, we’re told, without sufficient gun control measures on the books.
There’s only one problem. Literally none of this is true. Their dire media-driven predictions haven’t come true anywhere that constitutional carry has been made law.
A 2018 study showed that crime does not rise when a state rescinds their permit requirements. It may seem counterintuitive to some, but researchers find that people are, in fact, safer when they take responsibility for their own personal protection instead of letting someone else establish rules that absolve them of the need to use common sense.
Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs has an excellent article and video that illustrates this principle:
So far, two states have signed constitutional carry into law this year: Utah and Montana bring the total to 18 states. That’s better than it’s ever been in our lifetimes, but there’s still a lot of opportnity out there
Texas
Maybe the state that’s most notable by its absence on the constitutional carry map is Texas. The state has a reputation for being gun friendly, but open carry (for those with concealed carry permits) was only legalized in 2015.
@GregAbbott_TX why are we not yet on this list? For shame…
— TexasYankee (@texasyankee77) February 21, 2021
Texas’s governor and legislature is coming under increasing pressure for being behind the the constitutional carry curve. Fortunately, there are several bills in Texas that could turn this situation around.
“The fact that several legislators have filed legit Constitutional Carry bills — and that we have bills in both the House and Senate — is telling of the fact that Constitutional Carry is gaining momentum.” said Rachel Malone, head of the Texas director for Gun Owners of America. “Legislators are realizing that Texas is behind many other states on gun carry rights, and it’s their job to fix it.”
In the state Senate, there’s SB 540, which basically changes “license holder” to “person” in the gun laws, allowing anyone to do what license holders do today as long as they’re at least 21 years old and can legally purchase a gun. It would also create a new 30.08 sign, allowing property owners to decide to prohibit unlicensed people from carrying if they so choose. They could still post the 30.06 and/or 30.07 signs if they want to prohibit everyone from carrying on their private property.
In the Texas House, there’s HB 1238, HB 1927, and a combo of HB1587 and HB 821 that would each get the state to constitutional carry if passed into law. There are some differences between them, but they’re all better than what Texas has now. You can get a lot more information here.
“Whether it passes depends on how many people contact their legislators right now and let the legislators know that their constituents want it.” Malone said.
Indiana, Tennessee, and Georgia
These three states all have bills that would allow constitutional carry at various stages of the legislative process.
In Indiana, HB 1369 already passed the House, but still needs to be passed by the Senate. In Tennessee, there are two competing bills that would enact some form of constitutional carry. The governor’s preferred bill would only apply to residents of the state, and an alternative bill would apply to people from anywhere who can legally possess a gun. Georgia’s bill is currently awaiting a hearing in committee. You can get more information at GeorgiaCarry.org.
In each of these states, contact the committees to which they are assigned to let them know you support the bill, and if you live in the state, contact your legislators to show support. If all these pass, we’d have gained 6 Constitutional Carry states in 2021, putting us at 22 states. Whether this happens is up to YOU.
Legislation that allows me to exercise my constitutional rights? Fantastic!! Thank you government!
Yeah but,,,,,gee whizz. It’s only a right and they’re making it a law. Once it’s a law that’s good, ain’t it?.
Yeah but we are how easily it’s is for them to change their minds. E.G. FOPA is supposed to make a federal registry illegal, but congress is still full of geniuses pushing a bill that both strikes down the registry ban, creates a registry, and then makes that registry public all at the same time.
Passing HB 1369 in the Indiana Senate should be easier than passage in the House, because the Senate is even more conservative (most of the squishes are actually in the House).
The real problem will be our Evil Emperor Palpatine Governor Holcomb, a RINO if ever there was one. Fortunately, Indiana has pocket passage (not pocket veto), and an actual veto only requires a simple majority to override.
So, assuming the timing lines up, Indiana should actually join the ranks of constitutional carry in 2022 (when the eventual statute would take effect).
Hey chippy, what are your thoughts on the current situation of the Ahmaud Aubery case?
Looks like some racist murderers are going to prison for a very long time and some prosecutors may be facing misconduct charges in the near future.
“Let justice run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream“
Hey, Miner. Why would I care about that case in particular? You seem to be up on it more than I am. I really haven’t followed the facts of the case or the prosecution, but I trust due process.
If you’re trying to play a race card, sorry; it’s been declined.
We may *finally* get CC in Texas this time.
The roadblocks in the past have been a couple of RINO House Speakers (Strauss and Bonnen). Under Texas’ Reconstruction-era constitution, it is purposefully hard to get anything through the state legislature, and it is commonly understood that if the House Speaker doesn’t want something, save your breath because it’s not gonna pass.
And that what happened — typically, Strauss/Bonnen would appoint an anti-2A dem to head the committee where CC bills were referred, and either the bills were never heard from again, or else a vote was allowed so late in the session that failure was inevitable.
This time around, the new Speaker has backed pro-2A bills in the past, and has appointed Rep. James White to chair the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. White was the author of a CC bill in 2017 that got bottled up.
The Texas GOP officially has put a priority on getting CC passed. The Governor and Lt. Gov. are both in favor, and it looks like the Speaker is at least not going to be the impediment that Strauss/Bonnen were. Fingers crossed . . . .
STAY SAFE N ALERT BEST YA ALL CAN . GOT MY LTC . DON’T LEAVE HOME WITH OUT IT AND WEAPON INSURANCE .
THANKS ON ARTICLE INFOR .
Sean Hill played football and is a good shot.
HSB 254 introduced in Iowa House today- essentially permitless carry. Republicans control both House and Senate plus Governor, hoping for a win yet this year.
Watching the blue and green proliferate in that map image makes me happy.
There’s a caution in it, too, however. If you want to see just how far backwards the anti-American Democratic party has gone in the past 35 years, look at Washington and Oregon.
WA was already shall-issue in 1986, and Oregon joined in the first wave in 1988 — and they were “blue” states with Democratic governors and a lot of D legislators back then, too. And now look at them, competing to see which one of them can undo those freedoms first. There’s a real possibility that Oregon could be the first state to move backwards in this map.
The current law IS perfectly clear for anyone who understands the English language.
“The right of the people to keep AND bear arms shall not be infringed.”
infringe = to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another.
Too bad democrats can’t read. Now wonder they’re such incredibly stupid idiots…..
In other news, a new survey discovers that the #1 worry of democrats is the FEAR of Republican voters…. 🙂
“Whether it passes depends on how many people contact their legislators right now and let the legislators know that their constituents want it.” Malone said.
Indiana, Tennessee, and Georgia
These three states all have bills that would allow constitutional carry at various stages of the legislative process.”
There is a very simple reason why some states have Liberty and some states don’t.
Why It’s OK Not To Vote – Katherine Mangu-Ward video 60 minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSmBG1uU1ig
Nebraska just submitted a bill for constitutional carry, hopefully it will pass, they also have a bill to block any federal laws from being enforced, there are several others so hopefully it comes out in our favor.
Louisiana’s Honorable Representative Danny McCormick has prefiled House Bill 16 which would permit anyone 18 years old or older to carry concealed in Louisiana without a permit.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed HF 756 into law on 02 April 2021. Constitutional carry is effective 01 July 2021.
Did you know that the link in the paragraph above, “A 2018 study showed that crime does not rise when a state rescinds their permit requirements.”…goes to the site: “JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS (JACS)” (https://journals.lww.com/journalacs/pages/default.aspx), where I cannot find the study. If you have the name of the study I could at least look it up on “duckduckgo.com” since I refuse to use google any more.
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