[ad_1]
President Donald Trump made clear national reciprocity is currently being discussed during an Oval Office presser Wednesday with FBI director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Trump was asked about national reciprocity by a reporter who used D.C. as an example, asking if the White House and lawmakers are looking at a way to make it easier to carry a gun in the U.S. National Capital for self-defense.
Specifically, the reporter asked, “Could there be any further conversion to have national concealed carry apply to actual D.C., like if you have a driver license in Texas and you have a permit…”
Trump interjected, “As you know, they’ve been talking about for a long time, it’s an interesting question. A lot of people feel strongly both ways, but we are talking about that.”
When Trump was running in 2015 for the Republican presidential nomination he made clear his conviction that “concealed carry is a right, not a privilege.”
In position papers, he noted that the push for national right to carry recognition is one that needs to succeed:
The right of self-defense doesn’t stop at the end of your driveway. That’s why I have a concealed carry permit and why tens of millions of Americans do too. That permit should be valid in all 50 states. A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state. If we can do that for driving – which is a privilege, not a right – then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege.
During his 2020 presidential campaign Trump continued to support national reciprocity. In an interview with the NRA’s First Freedom, Trump was asked, “Mr. President, each state’s driver’s license is honored across this great nation, yet a permit to carry a concealed gun — which, in contrast, is a right specifically protected in the U.S. Bill of Rights — is often not respected by other states. Will you support a national reciprocity act so that law-abiding gun owners can more easily travel with their freedom?”
Trump’s response: “Yes.”
Just days after being elected in 2024, Breitbart News noted that Trump reiterated his focus national reciprocity again.
Rep. Richard Hudson (R) introduced national reciprocity legislation during this Congress. Hudson’s bill is H.R. 38 and Breitbart News pointed out, in January, that it had bipartisan support.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of the NRA and Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
[ad_2]
Source link