By Chris W. Cox When I started with NRA in 1995, most of the attention our organization received was over legislative efforts in Congress. Firearm-related legislation at the federal level obviously has an impact on far more law-abiding gun owners than what happens in a single state. As I wrote last month, though, Congress often […]
Texas gun rights advocates have been going at it with Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen for months now. The Speaker is no fan of constitutional carry and kept a bill to legalize permitless carry bottled up in the House. Bonnen then used campaigning tactics by a Texas Gun Rights activist as an excuse to kill […]
Kentucky’s Governor Matt Bevin tries to work cooperatively with everyone in the Kentucky General Assembly. But regarding the debate over constitutional carry in the Bluegrass State, he’s heard enough doomsday hyperbole. So when push came to shove, he offered a very pointed and memorable bit of advice to those who tried to talk him out […]
You remember Joe Gerth. He’s the journalismist who was actually smart enough to pass the Kentucky concealed carry test. He really isn’t a fan of his state joining the constitutional carry club. Somewhere along the way, the National Rifle Association somehow convinced our legislators that we’re safer with more guns — not fewer — and, most […]
The Oklahoma legislature has wasted no time in pushing a constitutional carry bill through now that former Governor Mary Fallin has been replaced by Governor Kevin Stitt. The new Governor has promised to sign the bill into law. The House passed HB 2597 last month. And the Senate passed the permitless carry bill just a […]
Constitutional carry has come a long way. We’re now up to 14 states in which the only permit you need to keep and bear arms is the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. Progress is currently being made in Kentucky (where a constitutional carry bill has passed the Senate) and Oklahoma (where a constitutional carry bill has passed […]
The Kentucky Senate passed a constitutional carry bill last week. Constitutional carry, if you’re unaware, means that Americans don’t need a government permission slip to own, keep and bear arms. It applies the Second Amendment as it was written and intended, acknowledging every American’s innate right to armed self-defense. That Senate vote, however, was a […]
The Kentucky Senate made the local chapter of Moms Demand Action very unhappy yesterday. As kentucky.com reports, “This is how our state decided to mark that anniversary of the deadliest high school shooting in our nation’s history — pass more gun legislation, making it easier for people to carry weapons in our state,” said Connie Coartney, […]
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin vetoed a constitutional carry bill that reached her desk last year. She said she killed the bill because constitutional carry removed the ability of law enforcement officers to distinguish between people carrying guns who had been trained and those who haven’t. No, really, she said that. But Fallin is no longer […]
In 2017, former South Dakota governor Dennis Daugaard vetoed a constitutional carry bill that made it to his desk. Governor Daugaard said he was a big supporter of Second Amendment rights, but as he wrote in his veto message a the time . . . As a longtime member of the NRA, I support the right […]
South Dakota is on a fast track to become the nation’s fourteenth state with nationwide constitutional carry after Senate Bill 47 passed on Tuesday with a 23-11 vote after about one hour of debate. Both the Senate and House currently have Republican majorities, the House even more than the Senate. The reason constitutional carry hasn’t been […]
In November, Florida narrowly elected Ron DeSantis as governor of the former Gunshine State. Along with governor-elect DeSantis taking office, the House and Senate will also have Republican majorities. In just about any other state, that would mean good news for gun owners. But as Florida’s past legislative history has shown, that isn’t the case. The […]
