The Arbalest Quarrel recently published an article which also appeared here at The Truth About Guns, “Attention All Law Abiding Gun Owners: National Concealed Handgun Reciprocity is in Jeopardy.” And this wasn’t the first time we wrote specifically on this critical subject.
In February 2018, almost ten months ago, we posted an article discussing 115 H.R. 38, “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.” The article is titled, “It’s Time for National Handgun Carry Reciprocity to Secure the Citizen’s Right of Armed Self-Defense, Throughout The Country.” We wondered what the Senate was waiting for in the final days of its session.
We are still asking. Indeed, why has this bill languished in the Senate Judiciary Committee for almost one year? Clearly, passage of this bill is critical to the strengthening of the Second Amendment, consistent with the intention of the Founders of our free republic who codified the natural right of the people to keep and bear arms, in our Bill of Rights. Since January 2017, the Arbalest Quarrel has written over twenty articles dealing with the importance of national handgun carry reciprocity. We invite interested readers to take a look at all of our articles.
We know that the Democratic Party leadership, along with virtually all Congressional Democrats, and particularly those of radical “left,” are adamantly opposed to this bill. The burning $64,000 question, though, is this: Is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also opposed to national handgun carry reciprocity?
If Senator McConnell isn’t opposed to the bill, the effect of his doing nothing to move it along has the same impact as active opposition to it. Ultimately, Senator McConnell, as the Senate Majority Leader, has absolute or virtually absolute control over what bills are acted upon and what bills are not. He wields immense power.
It may be, of course, that Senator McConnell, having sought bipartisan support on this bill and, realizing he was unable to obtain it, has been resigned to simply ignoring it, thereby allowing the bill to lapse of its own accord, without action in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it presently sits. But, what can be more important than our fundamental and unalienable rights and liberties, especially the right of the people to keep and bear arms, for the purpose of self-defense and as the ultimate fail-safe mechanism to prevent tyranny?
If the American people have to wait for conditions to be “right” for passage of national handgun carry reciprocity, we may be waiting until Hell freezes over, especially with so many new radical left elements poised to flex their legislative muscles when the 116th Congress takes over on January 3, 2019. That is why it is necessary to fast-track the Senate bill on this without further delay, so it can be sent to President Trump for his signature before the lame-duck Senate adjourns for the Christmas holiday.
If the lame-duck Senate does not act at once, all unfinished business of the 115th Congress remains unfinished—dead—until or unless any pending bill of the previous, 115th Congress, is reintroduced in the 116th Congress, when Congressional business starts anew.
Once the 116th Congress commences business in January 2019, however, you can forget about passage of national handgun carry reciprocity and you can forget about passage of any other bill that serves to strengthen the Second Amendment. For, if there is one thing Congressional Democrats—who will seat a majority in the the House of Representatives—will focus their energies on, apart from continuing their effort to undermine President Trump, and apart from their singular objective to open our Southern border to thousands, more, of illegal aliens, it is their single-minded desire and goal to weaken the Second Amendment. And, they seek to accomplish that through federal statute, to the point that the right embodied in the Second Amendment becomes essentially non-existent.
The newly reconfirmed Democratic Party House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will never allow national handgun carry reciprocity, or any other pro-Second Amendment bill, to make it to the floor of the House for a vote. And, if for some reason Pelosi, were to allow debate and a roll-call vote, it would only happen if she knew the bill would fail and thought the vote would damage her political opponents.
Time is therefore of the essence. If we are to see national handgun carry reciprocity, the Senate must act promptly on the bill that passed the House under Speaker Paul Ryan,and is suspended in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
AmmoLand Shooting Sports News and The Truth About Guns posted our article calling for Americans to urge the Senate to act on the bill the Senate has been sitting on for almost a year. And it is a top story. The Arbalest Quarrel continues to reach out to Pro-Second Amendment organizations and to responsible social media and news sources to mount a last-ditch grass-roots effort for passage of the “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.”
Over the past few days, we have made substantial progress and hope remains. We trust that thousands of American citizens have responded to our plea and have made calls to Senators Mitch McConnell and Charles Grassley, and that they have contacted NRA and the White House, too. And we know that thousands of Americans who cherish their sacred Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms have responded with their views and comments on Pro-Second Amendment websites and social media to get the word out.
Your message to Senate Republicans should be clear and clearly expressed: “If you want my vote, pass national concealed handgun carry reciprocity now!” “Votes” are one thing that all politicians know well and are sensitive to.
The Arbalest Quarrel is doing its part. The President of the Arbalest Quarrel, Stephen L. D’Andrilli, sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, asking him to urge President Trump to call the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell and urge him to hold a full Senate roll-call vote on the bill, before the Senate adjourns for the holiday, and the business of the 115th Congress ends.
The content of that letter is as follows:
November 27, 2018 via FedEx Priority Overnight
The Vice President of the United States The White House
Office of the Vice President
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20500Re: National Concealed Handgun Carry Reciprocity
Dear Mr. Vice President:
I had the distinct honor and privilege of meeting and talking with you at the 2014 annual convention of the NRA, in Indianapolis, and, once again, a year later, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City, where you were a guest speaker at the New York Meeting. This coming April 2019, I will be attending the NRA Convention that will be held once again in Indianapolis.
I am aware that a central plank of the Democratic Party leadership is directed to destruction of the Second Amendment-the surest path to tyranny if the Democratic Party succeeds. So, the best way to derail the Democratic Party’s efforts is to strengthen the Second Amendment. It is essentially for this reason that I am writing to you, and I am doing so out of a sense of urgency, as time is of the essence.
Almost one year ago, the Republican controlled House voted for passage of 115 H.R. 38, “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. “The House passed the bill on December 6, 2017, and it was immediately sent to the Senate for action. If Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, had pushed for passage of the bill, I feel certain it would have passed in the Republican controlled Senate. But, inexplicably, and disturbingly, the bill has lied dormant in the Senate Judiciary Committee, for almost a year.
A Democratic Party controlled House will likely not allow for passage of a bill for national concealed handgun carry reciprocity. So, any attempt by Senate Republicans to resurrect the bill in a Republican controlled Senate, when the new Congress commences business, on January 3, 2019, will be futile. We therefore have only a small window of opportunity remaining before the Senate recess. This is why the Senate must pass this measure without delay and present it to President Trump for his signature, before the Senate adjourns on December 14, 2018.
On our website, the Arbalest Quarrel, have discussed the importance of moving this bill through the Senate, while Republicans control both Houses of Congress. The link to our article is: We invite both you and President Trump to review our article and to act on this.
Nothing has more importance to me than the sacred rights and liberties set forth in our Constitution, and the preservation of our way of life, grounded in the Judea-Christian ethic. Both are under constant assault by Leftist elements inside our Country and outside it, and by our purported “free” Press.
As President Trump has made support of the Second Amendment an important part of his campaign, national handgun carry reciprocity would stand as his most important achievement in safeguarding the individual’s natural right of self-defense with a firearm. And, too, defending the Second Amendment through passage of this bill will demonstrate to millions of American citizens the veracity of the President ‘ s promises, the value of his word, and the strength of the President’s will to complete what he sets out to do.
I respectfully request you urge President Trump to call upon Senator McConnell to hold a Senate floor roll-call vote on national handgun carry reciprocity before the Senate adjourns on December 14, 2018.
I welcome the opportunity to assist further in this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of help. Thank you very much.
Respectfully submitted, _____________
Time is of the essence. The fight is not over. Right-to-carry nationwide is still possible. Keep in mind what the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “A right delayed is a right denied.” And many of you may recall the profound witticism of the late, great New York Yankees baseball catcher, Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
Please do your part, if you haven’t already acted, to help make national concealed handgun carry reciprocity the Law of the land. Whether it’s one or two phone calls or a quick text message, doing something is better than doing nothing. The fate of national handgun carry reciprocity and the fate of our fundamental, natural right, etched in stone in the Second Amendment, is ultimately in your hands.
Roger J. Katz has practiced law for the federal Government in Washington D.C., for the State Government in Arizona, and has been in private practice in Ohio, New York, and Arizona. Roger is a co-founder of Arbalest Group LLC, creator of the Arbalest Quarrel weblog, dedicated to strengthening the Second Amendment, preserving our Bill of Rights, and maintaining a free Republic. He is a decorated veteran NYPD officer and adjunct professor/lecturer of Police Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
This article was originally published at arbalestquarrel.com and is reprinted here with permission.