Senator Ron Johnson. Official Senate Photo.
As you may be aware I sometimes e-mail my elected officials. Doing so is a good way to let them know how you feel and may have some tiny effect on policy. Occasionally I get sent something back from them, in response to what I have written or, in this case, out of the blue. Obviously, when you e-mail your representatives you can be put onto a mailing list.
Today I received an e-mail from my Senator, Ron Johnson. In it he described a new bill put out by John Cornyn and Ted Cruz that would establish CCW reciprocity. For those of you that don't know CCW reciprocity means that a permit for a concealed handgun issued in one state would be effective in all 50 states, meaning that there wouldn't be any stupid arrests for someone who has a permit but forgot to leave their gun behind when they cross state lines. Doing so is something that gun rights supporters have wanted for a long time.
I will post the entire e-mail below and leave it unedited. I will talk a bit more about the CCW reciprocity act below, but Johnson's letter does a pretty good job summing up the act and what it will do and what it will not do.
Johnson Supports Concealed-Carry Reciprocity Bill
Dear Jeff,
Sen. Ron Johnson is supporting the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, a bill introduced by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) yesterday.This legislation would allow Wisconsin concealed carry permit holders to exercise those rights in any other state with concealed carry laws, while abiding by that state’s laws.
“This bill protects states'rights while allowing law-abiding citizens to safely exercise their Second Amendment rights away from home. Our laws need to be efficient and effective while allowing as much freedom as possible,” said Sen. Johnson. “I hope this bill will get the broad support it deserves.”
Background on the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act:
Protecting Fundamental Constitutional Rights:
Allows law-abiding citizens to exercise their fundamental right to self-defense while they are traveling or temporarily living away from home.
Allows individuals with concealed carry privileges in their home state to conceal carry in any other states that also allow concealed carry.
Treats state-issued concealed carry permits like drivers’ licenses where an individual can use their home-state license to drive in another state, but must abide by that other state’s speed limit or road laws.
Respecting State Sovereignty:
Does not establish national standards for concealed carry.
Does not provide for a national concealed carry permit.
Does not allow a resident to circumvent their home state’s concealed carry permit laws. If under current law an individual is prohibited by federal law from carrying a firearm, they will continue to be prohibited from doing so under our bill.
Respects state laws concerning specific types of locations in which firearms may not be carried and types of firearms which may not be carried by the visiting individual.
Protects states’ rights by not mandating the right to concealed carry in places that do not allow the practice.
Broad Support:
Last Congress, identical legislation had 40 cosponsors. In the 113th Congress, a nearly identical amendment received 57 votes in the Senate, including 13 Democrats.
Sincerely,
Ron's State Staff
There is almost no media coverage of this bill and what I have found, including this report from a local news station, basically repeats the press release and quotes different senators. You would think that a major gun rights legislation like this would get more coverage but of course Dianne Feinstein's stupid yearly Assault Weapons ban gets all the coverage.
Feinstein's bill has basically no chance of passing but does this one? I think that it will pass the senate and do so easily. The GOP controls the Senate and there are a few pro-gun Democrats that will likely cross over to vote for the bill. They definitely have the 50 votes to pass this and may actually be closer to 60 votes.
Unfortunately the House of Representatives is not likely to pass the bill. The Democrats took the house and there aren't many reps there that would cross over to help the GOP. It is certainly possible that some could but with the official Democratic position being that gun rights are a threat it seems unlikely that we will get the votes we need.
Obviously, the time to pass this was during the last Congress when the GOP held control of both the House and the Senate. Unfortunately, the Parkland shooting destroyed that chance as it ended up tabling the CCW bill due to the optics of the situation. I think that was a huge mistake because no matter what the media and the Democratic Party were going to hammer the gun rights community and we still would be better off now with our rights than we actually are right now.
I sincerely hope that this bill somehow manages to pass. CCW reciprocity is something that is long overdue and it's just stupid that we can't carry our weapons when we have trips to other states. Passing it would be a huge victory for gun rights and proof that the GOP can get things done when it comes to gun rights.
Finally, I have to say that Senator Johnson's staff is kind of funny. I have e-mailed him a couple of times in the past few years about other things, specifically the FISA declassification and the Kavanaugh confirmation, and got nothing back from his staff. But I haven't e-mailed him about gun rights in a VERY long time but I still got this e-mail. I'm happy to have gotten it since it was news that I wasn't aware of, but in terms of responding to my e-mails Tammy Baldwin, who I disagree with on pretty much everything, has been a lot more responsive. Oh well...
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