National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Bill (H.R. 197).
This legislation would protect the rights of licensed firearm permit holders by allowing them to carry firearms across the country without a confusing patchwork system.
The National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Bill recognizes that those who have a valid state-issued concealed firearms permit should not have to forfeit their safety when traveling. Not only does this bill protect the rights of concealed firearm permit holders, it also maintains the right of states to issue concealed weapons permits as they desire. As a mobile society, legal firearm permit carriers should be able to travel from state to state and exercise their fundamental right to self [UTF-8?]defense—this legislation ensures that.
Specifically, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Bill would allow any person with a valid concealed firearm carrying permit or license, issued by a state, to carry a concealed firearm in any state, as follows:
In states that issue concealed firearm permits, a [UTF-8?]state’s laws governing where concealed firearms may be carried would apply within its borders. In states that do not issue carry permits, a federal “bright-line” standard would permit carrying in places other than police stations; courthouses; public polling places; meetings of state, county, or municipal governing bodies; schools; passenger areas of airports; and certain other locations. The bill applies to D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. territories. It would not create a federal licensing system; it would require the states to recognize each [UTF-8?]others’ carry permits, just as they recognize [UTF-8?]drivers’ licenses and carry permits held by armored car guard
H.R. 197 has 55 Co-sponsors: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR00197:@@@P
If your Congress Critter is not on the list of co-sponsors, you might want to email them and request that they co-sponsor the bill and / or vote in favor of it if and when it comes to the floor. The more co-sponsors a Bill has, the better chance of it coming to the floor for a vote.
Ideally, each State would pass their own amendment to their Right-to-Carry law and recognize other State’s permits.
