PA Bill Number: HB1472
Title: In primary and election expenses, further providing for reporting by candidate and political committees and other persons and for late contributions ...
Description: In primary and election expenses, further providing for reporting by candidate and political committees and other persons and for late contrib ...
Last Action: Referred to STATE GOVERNMENT
Last Action Date: Apr 22, 2024
CPRC: The shooting of Steve Scalise is an argument for concealed-carry reciprocity: If not for Capitol Police, would they have lived? :: 06/17/2017
Although he was seriously wounded, it is a lucky thing that Rep. Steve Scalise made it to baseball practice on Wednesday morning. Due to his position as majority whip, armed Capitol Hill Police accompanied Scalise. This security detail saved the lives of his House colleagues and two senators.
As Rep. Mike Bishop (R-Mich.), told WWJ radio in Detroit, “The only reason — the only reason — why any of us walked out of this thing: By the grace of God, one of the folks here had a weapon to fire back and give us a moment to find cover. Because we were inside the backstop and if we didn’t have that cover by a brave person who stood up and took a shot themselves, we would not have gotten out of there and every one of us would have been hit. Every single one of us.”
Many Republican representatives have concealed handgun permits from their home states, but carrying in the District of Columbia is illegal for all but a select few D.C. residents. The attack occurred in relatively gun-friendly Virginia, though that is irrelevant to a representative going directly between baseball practice and Capitol Hill.
Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) thinks that he has a solution: allow congressmen and women to carry in D.C. if they have a permit to do so in their home state. Of course, congressmen still aren’t likely to be carrying guns while out in the field, practicing baseball.
How gun violence terrorizes the body and mind
And what about their staffs? Why limit concealed carry only to congressmen and women?
Other Republican lawmakers are proposing nationwide reciprocity bills for all permit holders. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is introducing such legislation this week. Reciprocity would make life simpler for permit holders who travel.
It’s not easy for a truck driver to avoid troublesome state and city gun laws as he drives across the country with valuable merchandise. He can quickly run into trouble in “may issue” states such as New York, New Jersey, Illinois or California, which give out few permits and require applicants to demonstrate sufficient “need.” Or imagine a single woman driving across state lines at night, hoping that her car won’t break down along the highway.
If not for the security detail, how would he have been stopped? (New York Daily News)
For most of the country, reciprocity is already a fact of life. The average state allows people with concealed handgun permits from 32 other states to travel freely. But the eight “may issue” states and D.C. pull down that average; only one of those eight states, Delaware, recognizes permits from any other state.
What to know about Steve Scalise, the rep wounded in Va. shooting
Only about 100 people in all of D.C. have concealed handgun permits. To even have a chance of getting a permit, an applicant has to be able to point to a specific threat. That’s something that even Scalise may not have been able to do before Wednesday’s attack.
There’s no good reason not to issue permits much more generously. Permit holders are extremely law-abiding, losing their permits for any firearm-related violations at rates of thousandths of one percentage point.
Some say that we should just rely on the police to protect us. But very few of us have trained security details. What happens when no one is there to help? Alexandria police reportedly arrived about three minutes after the attack had started. Who wants to face an attacker like Wednesday’s shooter for one minute, let alone three?
Already, one congressman is changing his behavior. Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) promises to carry his handgun at all public events: “If you look at the vulnerability, I can assure you from this day forward, I have a carrier permit. I will be carrying when I’m out and about.”
President Trump makes surprise visit to Rep. Scalise in hospital
Police are extremely important. But there is no way for 628,000 police officers to be everywhere and protect 320 million people at once. Republican congressmen lucked out on Wednesday. Next time, we can’t depend on luck.
Lott is the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and the author most recently of “The War on Guns.”
