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July 22, 2009
Senate narrowly avoids increasing our freedom to carry guns
The Senate on Wednesday turned aside the latest attempt by gun advocates to expand the rights of gun owners, narrowly voting down a provision that would have allowed gun owners with valid permits from one state to carry concealed weapons in other states. A group comprising mostly Republicans, along with some influential Democrats, had tried to attach the gun amendment to the annual defense authorization bill, a must-pass piece of legislation. But the provision got only 58 votes, two short of the 60 votes needed for passage under Senate rules.Measure to Expand Gun Rights Falls Short in Senate
I'm simply astonished how close this came to passing. That 58 senators would expand the right to carry a concealed weapon to anyone approved by any state is amazing. However, 39 states have a shall issue permit system (issuing officials may not arbitrarily deny a concealed-carry application), and if all the senators from those states had voted for the bill it would have passed. Why are gun rights good enough for law abiding residents but not law abiding visitors? Maybe I should be surprised if it failed.
Also, does anyone else see a sort of odd parallel to the defense of marriage act in this defeat?
Posted by OneEyedMan at July 22, 2009 3:45 PM
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