Demand Five

Demand five deals with opposing the Concealed Carry Reciprocity HR 38, which passed the House vote in December 2017.

This law would force each state to honor the conceal carry laws of all other states in the United States. This means that if you were able to carry a concealed weapon by permit in Michigan, you would be allowed to carry that concealed weapon in every other state.

This imposes on the few states who have some of the strictest and safest gun laws, such as Massachusetts and New Jersey, which are also states that have the least amount of gun related deaths, according to Content.

Twelve states allow citizens to carry without a permit. These states also don’t require gun training or background checks.

Reciprocity would force safer states — like Massachusetts — to allow someone carry a concealed weapon without training or even a background check to carry in a state like Massachusetts. Even if that person wouldn’t pass the requirements to own a gun in Massachusetts, that person could carry in that state because he or she has a permit in a different state that allows a concealed weapon to be carried.

With reciprocity, people would be allowed to carry a concealed weapon in every state just as long as the state they live in allowed it in the first place.

At least 25 states prohibit certain people from carrying concealed weapons. The list includes people with no training, certain domestic abusers, people who pose a danger to others, people convicted of crimes of violence, convicted stalkers, teenagers, and felons. But because it’s not all 50 states who prohibit concealed carry, these same types of people would be allowed to carry in all 50 states in America if reciprocity were law.

In eight states, you don’t even need a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Because of these eight states, if reciprocity is enacted then the citizens of those eight states can carry a concealed weapon in every state with no permit.

This means no background check, no training, no needed knowledge of guns, and no age limit. Anyone can carry a gun.

Not only could anyone carry a concealed weapon, but they could carry it anywhere that is open to the public.

According to Congress.gov, “…the bill specifies that a qualified individual who lawfully carries or possesses a concealed handgun in another state: (1) is not subject to the federal prohibition on possessing a firearm in a school zone and (2) may carry or possess the concealed handgun in federally owned lands that are open to the public.”

This means that if someone had a permit lawfully in any state, that person could carry his or her weapon in school zones and at federal lands that are open to the public, such as national parks.