Says Congress Must Act to Protect the Rights of Law-Abiding Americans

West Bend, WI – Tim Schmidt, the Founder and President of the United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), today offered his strong support for the reintroduction of national reciprocity for concealed carry on the first day of the 116th Congress and thanked U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) for his continued leadership on this important issue. Hudson reintroduced the bill after it was passed by the House in December 2017 but was ultimately never approved by the Senate despite strong support from U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and many others.

Schmidt acknowledged today that under an anti-Second Amendment House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, national reciprocity faces an uphill battle but said today that this issue is too important for Congress not to act.

“Law-abiding Americans should not lose their constitutional right to defend themselves, and risk arrest, simply for crossing state lines,” Schmidt said.“This legislation would not only protect law-abiding Americans from a patchwork of contradictory state laws, but it would also strengthen public safety by giving more Americans the ability to protect themselves and those around them. National concealed carry reciprocity has bipartisan support and Congress must act to protect the Constutitional rights of all law-abiding Americans. On behalf of the thousands of law-abiding members of the USCCA we thank Congressman Hudson and the many other Members of Congress in both parties who support this long overdue effort.”

USCCA’s continued calls for Congress to act and protect law-abiding Americans comes as armed Americans have continued to protect themselves and others from violent criminals. As recently as Monday night, a concealed carry permit holder in Chicago shot two would-be robbers. The concealed carry license holder was standing on the sidewalk when two men armed with handguns got out of a silver Nissan, police said. The men then announced a robbery, prompting the license holder to shoot both of them.

And as ABC News reported last month:

• A woman who was home alone in Pickens, South Carolina, shot and killed a jail escapee who kicked in her back door, authorities said. Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark said the woman, whose name has not been released, has a concealed weapons permit and knew how to use her gun when escapee Bruce W. McLaughlin Jr., 30, reached her bedroom entrance. "This is a shining example of what this lady did, took the time to get her CWP and set herself up to protect herself and not be harmed, killed or raped or whatever," Clark said at a news conference on Tuesday. "She came out on the good end and the other guy, the bad guy, didn't.

“It is stunning to think that this same brave woman who potentially saved her own life, and the lives of others, because she chose to be a responsibly armed American could have been branded a criminal if she took this same weapon across the state lines where her permit is not recognized. That is why Congress needs to act so the rights of all responsibly-armed Americans can be protected,”Schmidt said.

The United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), a Wisconsin-based organization with over 280,000 members, provides education, training and self-defense protection to responsible American gun owners. USCCA was recently featured on CBS News’ 60 Minutesrecently on a segment about the effort in Congress to pass reciprocity for concealed carry licenses.

BACKGROUND:

The United States Concealed Carry Association has been urginglawmakers in Congress to follow through on their promise to pass national concealed carry reciprocity, which would ensure that concealed carry permits issued in one state would be considered valid in the other 49 states. In addition to Congressman Hudson’s legislation in the House, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act through S.446 in the last Congress. Both bills would ensure that concealed carry permits issued in one state would be respected in them all.

The U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) provides education, training and self-defense protection to responsible American gun owners. Headquartered in West Bend, WI, the USCCA is the largest and fastest-growing association whose sole focus is the responsibly armed American.