PA Bill Number: HR541
Title: Recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Description: A Resolution recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Last Action: Reported as committed
Last Action Date: Oct 1, 2024
S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson to Congress: Let concealed carry gun permits cross state lines :: 11/22/2017
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson on Tuesday urged Congress to pass legislation that would make states recognize one another’s concealed weapon permits, arguing every citizen's right to self-defense is at risk without it.
With Wilson's signature, South Carolina signed onto a letter with four other states — Missouri, Alabama, Louisiana, and Montana — in asking Congress to pass either the U.S. Senate’s Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 or the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, a House bill.
The bills would require states to recognize the permits of other states, including ones with less-stringent laws.
"States should not be able to deny citizens of other states the basic constitutional right to self-defense," Wilson said in a statement. "South Carolinians who have gone through the process of getting concealed weapon permits shouldn't have to worry about whether they can protect themselves and their families when they travel in other states."
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Seneca, is among the Senate bill's 38 co-sponsors. The House bill is backed by the National Rifle Association. All six of South Carolina's Republican congressional representatives are among the House bill's 213 cosponsors.
Jennifer Baker, a spokeswoman for the NRA's lobbying arm, told the Associated Press that the House bill "remains the NRA's top legislative priority."
Wilson said this bill is not about expanding the rights of who can have a concealed weapon permits. Under both bills, Wilson said convicted felons, people involuntarily committed to mental health facilities and other persons prohibited by federal law from possessing or receiving firearms would still be unable to carry firearms.
"It just eliminates the confusion we have now over which states recognize which other states’ permits, and makes that constitutional right uniform across the country," Wilson said. "The Framers were unwavering in their right to self-protection and steadfast in their support of the Second Amendment."
Reach Caitlin Byrd at 843-937-5590 and follow her on Twitter @MaryCaitlinByrd.
