Everytown Statement: Shame on U.S. House for Imperiling Bipartisan Movement to Improve Background Check System in Order to Push NRA’s Top Priority “Concealed Carry Reciprocity

REPORT: House Republicans Plan to Combine Controversial Concealed Carry Reciprocity Bill with Consensus Fix NICS Background Check Legislation, As Senators Cornyn/Murphy Secure Enough Bipartisan Support to Overcome Filibuster for Fix NICS in the Senate

Reckless Concealed Carry Reciprocity Legislation Would Undermine State Gun Laws, Allow People With Dangerous Histories and No Training to Carry Hidden, Loaded Handguns in Public

NEW YORK – Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown, today released the following statement on reports that Republican leadership in the House of Representatives intends to combine the gun lobby’s number one priority legislation H.R. 38, the disastrous “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017,” with the “Fix NICS Act,” a modest proposal to improve reporting of records into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), for a floor vote next week.

The “Fix NICS Act” is a companion to the Senate’s bipartisan Cornyn/Murphy bill, which now has enough support to reach a filibuster-proof 60-vote threshold in the Senate, including cosponsorship by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Dean Heller (R-NV), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Tim Scott (R-SC), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Pat Toomey (R-PA).

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has also rejected the idea of combining the “Fix NICS Act” with “concealed carry reciprocity,” saying that “I think we risk not doing anything which has sort of been the fate of a lot of the legislation we’ve tried in the past. So, I’d like to do the fix NICS and then we can move on from there. … combining them, I think, is to risk nothing happening.”

STATEMENT FROM JOHN FEINBLATT, PRESIDENT OF EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY:

“Carrying the NRA’s water, members of Congress want to sneak in a vote on ‘concealed carry reciprocity’ and eviscerate state gun laws. To do it, they’re hijacking a modest, bipartisan proposal that would help improve the background check system. It’s outrageous. ‘Concealed carry reciprocity’ is a poison pill, and Congress should listen to the American people and reject it.”

About “Concealed Carry Reciprocity”

• “Concealed carry reciprocity” would override the standards that states have set for who can carry hidden, loaded guns in public.
• Right now, every state has different standards for who can carry a concealed gun in public. “Concealed carry reciprocity” would NOT create a national standard for who can carry a hidden, loaded gun in public. Instead, it would force each state to accept the concealed carry standards of every other state, even states that have weak standards, or worse, no standards at all.
• This isn’t hypothetical: 19 states don’t require any gun safety training in order to carry a concealed gun in public, while 12 states don’t require a permit or background check.
• “Concealed carry reciprocity” would undermine state gun laws, and force every state to allow people with dangerous histories and no training to carry hidden, loaded guns in public.

From our nation’s law enforcement community to mayors, opposition to “concealed carry reciprocity” is widespread. Last month, a group of seventeen attorneys general released a letter opposing the policy. The National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, which includes many of the nation’s largest law enforcement organizations, and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors have also opposed “concealed carry reciprocity.” Earlier this week, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys wrote a letter to Congress urging them to oppose “concealed carry reciprocity.”

Additionally, a Pew survey released in June found that 81 percent of Americans oppose allowing people to carry concealed weapons without a permit. “Concealed carry reciprocity” would force states to allow concealed carry by many people with no permit.