Lately, there has been a lot of discussion on social media about passing National Constitutional Carry legislation – which I do believe President Trump would sign. While I believe all gun laws are essentially unconstitutional, due to our Second Amendment, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The 2A lobby, led by Gun Owners of America (GOA), have been successful in recent years, both legislatively and through the judiciary. And when we speak of going through the courts, to protect our 2A rights, I also have to give Alan Gottlieb, and the Second Amendment Foundation, a hearty shoutout. The 2A Foundation has been at the forefront of challenging unconstitutional gun laws for over 50 years. But, I digress. I am getting ahead of myself.

National Constitutional Carry vs. National Concealed Carry Reciprocity

National Constitutional Carry and National Concealed Carry Reciprocity are not remotely the same. Both would be welcomed, but there are many challenges to getting either passed. Let’s look at what these two laws would do.

National Concealed Carry Reciprocity would allow a handgun carry permit holder, from any state, to conceal carry a handgun in every other state, plus the District of Columbia. The gun owner would be required to follow the concealed carry laws of the state they’re in, but could legally carry their pistol concealed. National reciprocity legislation has been introduced in the United States House of Representatives several times over the years to make this a reality. The lower house passed this in 2017 and H.R. 38 is currently awaiting action in the House Judiciary Committee.

In 2017, the House of Representatives passed the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. This was during the first year of Trump’s first term as president. And like now, we enjoyed a small majority in both chambers of Congress. After the bill passed the House of Representatives, it languished in the U.S. Senate for months – and never even got out of committee. This has largely been blamed on one person: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Here is a screenshot of a great article by Tom Knighton at Bearing Arms:

Granted, McConnell would have had to go nuclear, to get this to the Senate floor for a vote, but it would have passed. And President Trump vowed to sign the bill. Maybe we will have better success with Majority Leader, Senator John Thune, once H.R. 38 passes the House. But, with our thin house majority, this isn’t even guaranteed to get out of committee – much less pass a vote of the full House of Representatives.

National Constitutional Carry would allow anyone who can legally own a handgun to carry in any state, without any need for a state concealed carry permit. My belief is that this is fitting and proper based on the Second Amendment. Representative Thomas Massie introduced H.R. 645 “National Constitutional Carry Act on January 23, 2025. This bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary on the day Massie introduced it. The provisions provided by this bill can be seen in this screenshot from his office’s press release of January 23:

My Thoughts

While I vigorously support Representative Massie’s efforts to protect the Second Amendment, I believe that H.R. 38 is much more likely to pass in our bicameral Federal legislature – where we have such razor thin majorities. We all need to applaud Representative Massie and encourage our representatives to support his bill. If we can get this bill passed, in both houses, we would have no need for a National Concealed Carry Reciprocity bill. But let’s take baby steps first and get Representative Richard Hudson’s reciprocity bill over the finish line. It will face far lower resistance by Democrats – and RINOs – than National Constitutional Carry.

What are your thoughts?

Molon Labe,
The Original Grey Beard Biker™
Email: gbb@TheGreyBeardBiker.com
@Yadi_Molina4 on X