This past week the House of Representatives passed HR 38, the National Reciprocity Act. A piece of legislation that gun owners have been demanding for decades. To no one’s surprise, gun control activists have been fighting it tooth and nail. Now that the bill is actually making headway people like Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are freaking out, resorting to outright lies as a last ditch attempt to try and stop it from becoming law.
Inviting violent criminals to carry concealed weapons doesn’t save lives
Inviting domestic abusers to carry concealed weapons doesn’t save lives
Inviting convicted stalkers to carry concealed weapons doesn’t save livesYet the @HouseGOP just voted to do exactly that #StopCCR
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) December 6, 2017
Pelosi’s tweet claims that “violent criminals,” “domestic abusers,” and “convicted stalkers” would be allowed to carry concealed handguns anywhere in the United States should the bill pass. That’s a claim so divorced from the reality that I’m having a hard time believing that Nancy hasn’t gone full troll in her dotage.
First things first; the law only applies to concealed carry. There’s a handy federal law in place — 18 U.S. Code § 922 — which details a whole litany of people who are specifically prohibited from owning or possessing firearms of any kind in any situation. Prohibited persons include convicted felons, convicted domestic abusers, and people subject to a restraining order (for reasons including stalking). If these people aren’t allowed to own a firearm, they definitely can’t carry one. Not legally The proposed new law does absolutely nothing to change that.
So her statement is 100% false. The very definition of fake news. I’m not sure if San Fran Nan is merely ignorant of the law or purposefully trying to deceive the American people here. And I don’t think there’s a third option.
There are some in the comments of her Tweet that try to make the claim that constitutional carry laws in some states would allow anyone and everyone to carry firearms everywhere in the United States. The only thing that proves to me is that these people haven’t read the bill at all and are simply re-posting fake talking points from gun control groups.
- The bill applies ONLY to people who have a concealed carry permit issued by their state. “Constitutional Carry” DOES NOT APPLY since there are no permits issued for Constitutional Carry.
- EVEN IF Constitutional Carry applied, these people would still be subject to the regulations in 18 U.S. Code § 922 which would STILL make Pelosi’s claimed “violent criminals,” “domestic abusers,” and “convicted stalkers” prohibited persons. It would already be illegal for them to posses a firearm, and nothing in the bill changes that fact.
The saddest part about this situation is that it highlights why — despite gun control advocates protestations — it’s impossible to have a reasoned discussion about guns in this country. After every high profile shooting the Dems and those in their civilian disarmament cheering section demand that we need to finally have a frank and honest discussion about firearms in this country.
The implication, of course, is that Democrats and the “gun safety” groups are more intelligent than we gun-wielding yahoos and they need to “educate” us about the fierce moral imperative of further restricting civilian gun ownership. But the “facts” they use, the statistics they generate and the arguments that we get from them, time and again, simply don’t stand up to even the slightest bit of scrutiny.
The debate around national reciprocity a prime illustration of why gun owners don’t trust people like Nancy Pelosi or those of her ilk. There’s simply no way to have an intellectually honest discussion about guns when the other side is constantly pitching propaganda and talking points, throwing around hilariously inaccurate statements as if they were undeniable truths of life. It’s like trying to reason with a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.