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Will the Constitutional carry bills in the Kentucky House and Senate get out of committee and head to the governor’s desk? On opencarry.org, a poster has been in intimate contact with the attempt to pass “permitless” or Constitutional carry in Kentucky.

Gutshot has demonstrated an excellent understanding of the legislative mechanics and the personalities involved in the process. He’s clear about the chances of KY Constitutional Carry — and frustrated. From opencarry.org:

This year’s session is over. Wednesday is the last working day for this year. Even if SB7 were voted out of committee today, there would not be enough time to get it a floor vote and then to a House committee and passed in that chamber. We are not going to get any gun bills passed this year. Not one.

No, they won’t “sit on it until next year”. Bills don’t get carried over from year to year. Everything will start fresh next year. Some of the bills from this year will be back, some won’t.

Some of the sponsors will persist and others will decide its not going to happen or that its too hard and give up. New bills that we have never seen before will show up. The idea behind a bill might persist, but some bills will show up in a new form.

I have no idea if Senator Robinson wants to try this again and if he does, what changes he may want. I doubt he knows, right now. This has been a very frustrating experience, two years in a row. I don’t even know why I am working on this. Constitutional carry does nothing for me.

I’ll never give up my CCDW, so passing constitution carry is never going to effect me and it appears that those few people that it will effect, don’t really care that much about it. I just want to live in a state that respects people’s rights, especially gun rights. There are problems that do effect me directly that I could spend my time on.

Kentucky has a very short legislative session in odd numbered years. There are only 30 days total to be used for legislation, over a three month period, as shown in the calendar.

Gutshot knows the system. There is almost no way, short of a miracle, for Constitutional carry to pass now. The bills died in committee, as a great many bills do. The possibility of passing a Constitutional carry bill looked good for Kentucky this year, but the stars did not line up correctly.

In New Hampshire, Constitutional carry passed twice with large majorities, but was vetoed by a Democrat governor, twice.  It finally was passed and signed into law in 2017, by a Republican legislature and governor.

Kentucky may get a Constitutional carry law eventually, but it has become nearly impossible for it to pass in 2017.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Gun Watch

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15 COMMENTS

  1. intimate contact…

    exactly how intimate was it

    hopefully there was affirmed consent

  2. Thank you gutshot for trying. I certainly appreciate it. I am not a KY resident but I appreciate the continued march of constitutional carry. Please don’t give up, it gives us hope and good news in unfree states. If you’d like to get some moral support or ask from help from out of staters, go to calguns.net there’s a concarry thread where we keep track of such efforts. If you ask for some concrete help you will definitely have at least a few smart and energetic members ready to help.

    Please don’t give up the fight. You’re like NASA and space flight for the rest of the world. Inspiring and showing what can be done with courage and hard work and a new mindset.

    • Well, Gutshot, we feel your pain here in Texas and are going through the same crap ourselves.
      Just remember: much of the lack of support for your efforts is due to people saying “ain’t my problem” or ” I don’t have a dog in that fight”. And they’re right , like you, many folks won’t be affected one way or another by no longer needing a government permission slip to exercise their civil rights – but the ones who will, will be the ones who need it most.

  3. One thing I would like to know, is how in Gods name do state legislatures work so damn little? I know government likes to stall, but they’ve only been in session what like a month? And now they won’t be in session again until 2019? For crying out loud that is INSANE. That makes the federal government look light speed fast.

    • Be careful what you wish for. California has a full-time legislature every year, and they feel compelled to have something to show for their efforts every year. It’s part of why California has gone downhill so FAST.

      Remember, most conservatives don’t want much from government, whereas most leftists do. Structurally, you’re better off with a do-nothing/infrequent government than the reverse. Seriously- take a look at states that have full-time legislatures, and you’ll see there’s DEFINITELY a correlation. Being a guinea pig to prove causation sounds VERY stupid to me.

    • Until a few years ago, the Kentucky Legislature did not even meet in odd numbered years. We were better off as a state with them not meeting. Now it seems like every year we get more laws increasing the power of the state at the expense of the citizens. Sadly, the General Assembly will meet again in 2018, much to the detriment of the Citizens of Kentucky.

  4. Wow, only 30 days for the legislative session? Damn, I wish we had that in Maryland. The three months they work is the scariest time of the year. Never know what crazy BS the Democrats will force on the citizens in that time frame.

    • We get 90 days in even numbered years. But having the Republicans in control makes no difference. They wasted their 30 days this year on “hate crimes” against cops and making it a felony to defend yourself against a dog owned by the government. More big government, more state boot on citizen’s throats.

  5. I suspect the lack of support for SB7/HB316 has something to do with the potential loss of revenue to local Sheriff’s Offices–as described in the Local Mandate Fiscal Impact Statement that accompanied the bills: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/note/17RS/SB7/LM.pdf
    “The fiscal impact of SB 7 on local governments is expected to be moderate to significant depending on the county and the overall budget of the Sheriff’s Office.” $20 of the $60 initial application fee AND the $60 renewal fee (every five years) goes to the county Sheriff.
    Then there is the impact to all of the small/moderate-sized businesses that do the CCDW training: $50 of the $75/pupil fee goes to the instructor. http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Statutes/statute.aspx?id=11135

  6. Please don’t give up the fight for bill 7!!! Greed is reason for this b.s. shame on law makers that didn’t make this the law in Kentucky!!!! Poor people can’t affored the money for ccw!!!! And the rights they deserve that’s clearly in the construction!!!! Wow is all I can say!!! If any 1 can help us here in Kentucky!!!! Please do the right thing and make this happen!! Shame on you who didn’t make this law asap!!!!! Its the right of the people! Now do what’s the people want and stop the greed that’s Hurt’s the people your put in office to protect and serve!!!

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