H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011, has officially passed one of its first hurdles by making it out of the House Judiciary Committee unscathed. The legislation now moves on to the full House of Representatives for approval, a process which could be completed before the close of 2011. So what exactly stands between you, your Florida CCW permit, and the ability to carry down Broadway in New York City? Oh, just a couple of minor steps…

  1. Approval by the House of Representatives. The bill needs to be approved by the majority of Representatives — The Judiciary Committee was only a small group responsible for weeding out “bad” legislation. During this process Representatives may try to amend the bill to change it, and the final product may bear no resemblance whatsoever to the original bill. The House of Representatives currently consists of 242 Republicans and 192 Democrats, so a vote along party lines is all that is needed for it to pass.
  2. Approval by the Senate. This might be a little more tricky. The Senate was designed to slow down the legislative process and give legislation more time to be examined before passage, so even if everyone agreed that the bill was awesome it would take some time to process. On top of that hurdle is the fact that Democrats have a 6 member majority over Republicans, and Dems don’t seem to like this bill all that much. Or guns in general.
  3. Reconciliation Conference. Often times the version of legislation passed by the Senate is drastically different from the version passed by the House. In those instances a conference between the two bodies is conducted to work out the differences and approve a single version of the bill.
  4. Presidential Signature. Once a finalized version of the bill is decided upon, Barack Obama must put his signature on it to sign it into law. Or not. Laws automatically are considered “signed” if the President doesn’t sign the thing within 10 days and congress is in session. On the other hand, if the bill is passed less than 10 days before the end of the congressional session then the President can “pocket veto” the bill by simply not signing and waiting for the time to run out. It’s considered a dick move, but it happens. Or the president can veto the bill outright, in which case the House can override him with a vote in which 2/3 of the House agrees to pass the bill. Which won’t happen.

In short, don’t hold your breath. There’s a long road ahead, but this is an encouraging step forward.

[thehill.com via armsandthelaw.com]

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8 COMMENTS

  1. As Princess Leia said when she stepped out of the Millennium Falcon parked in the stomach of the asteroid-dwelling space worm:

    “I got a BAD feeling about this.”

  2. This is the one piece of legislation that the gungrabbers will never allow to pass since it would completely thwart their scheme of regulating firearms to death. It makes the rules in NY, Cali, HI, IL and other antigun People’s Republics untenable. Look at it this way: if you were a NYC resident and needed but could not obtain a firearm, but some tourist from MA with a CCW license could pack on your streets, wouldn’t you go ballistic? For how long could NYC treat nonresidents from Utah better than it’s own taxpaying residents? The house of cards would collapse.

    That’s why this legislation will never be allowed to pass. It makes a total mockery of gungrabbers and their stupid laws.

    • @Ralph

      I don’t know. Maybe I’m holding too much hope, but this seems like an awkward time for gun rights. From where I’m sitting support for gun rights seems to be up and I think that this might have some hope of passing.

      But again, I may be overly hopeful.

  4. The only way Reid will allow this one to be voted on in the Senate is if its sure to fail.

    But i tell you what. If i’m wrong and it passes AND Barry signs it, i’d almost be tempted to drop some dough into his campaign and cast my vote in his general direction. Almost

    • Obama’s voting record on guns is abysmal. If the bill makes it to his desk and he signs it, it’ll be a great day for the 2nd amendment, but I’ll be scratching my head.

    • “But i tell you what. If i’m wrong and it passes AND Barry signs it, ”

      I would check to make sure I was awake, and if I would, I send MORE money to Ø’s 2012 opponent.

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