To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
Don't force states to accept concealed-carry permits from EVERYWHERE!
We oppose federally mandated concealed-carry legislation which would force states to recognize concealed-carry permits from all over the country, regardless of how lax the permitting standards are in other states.
Why is this important?
The pro-gun lobby is working hard to advance national legislation that would force states to recognize concealed-carry permits from all over the country, regardless of how lax the permitting standards in other states. And some states have lax standards indeed: A Sun-Sentinel investigation found that Florida had issued concealed-carry licenses to 1,400 people convicted of crimes, as well as to hundreds more applicants with warrants, domestic abuse injunctions, or gun violations.[1] And North Carolina, from 2007 to 2011, issued 2,400 conceal-carry permits to people convicted of crimes, including some who committed murder or manslaughter.[2]
If mandated national concealed-carry legislation becomes law, it would allow dangerous, high-risk gun owners to go wherever they like with their firearms. The legislation would also encourage such gun owners from around the country to converge on states with loose permitting standards in order to easily get concealed-carry licenses that would have to be honored nationally.
Furthermore, individual states would no longer be able to control who is authorized to carry a concealed gun within its borders. Police would not even be able to quickly find out if out-of-state permits are valid, putting law enforcement and the public at higher risk of harm.
Mandated national conceal-carry would gut commonsense gun safety laws that parents worked hard to pass in states across our nation. Americans are already about 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun than someone from another developed country. Now is not the time to weaken commonsense safety standards or states' rights! Tell Congress to oppose federally mandated concealed-carry legislation now!
[1] "The Law that Will Make a Million George Zimmermans," The Daily Beast, Jan. 12, 2015. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/12/the-law-that-will-make-a-million-george-zimmermans.html
[2] "Guns in Public, and Out of Sight," New York Times, Dec. 26, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/us/more-concealed-guns-and-some-are-in-the-wrong-hands.html?_r=0