Senate Democrats Defeat Needed Self-Defense Bill

One of my key desires in the area of citizen guns rights went down the drain the other day, although I honestly did not think it would even get even this far. There is now a federal law referred to as the “peaceful journey law” that requires every state to allow the legal owner of a handgun to transport that handgun from a person’s home to another home or to his place of business.

Of course, if you have a carry permit, you can only transport the weapon loaded and ready for use in self-defense if the state you are traveling through honors your permit from your home state. Otherwise, as is true in most states (and particularly in states along the Mid-Atlantic and New England), you have to lock the gun unloaded in the trunk of your car, where it is useless as a defensive device, and you cannot linger in a pass-through state.

The legislation described below would have required each state to honor the carry permit of every other state, so that law-abiding citizens could travel in safety.

Senate rejects concealed weapons bill

July 22, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate narrowly rejected a controversial measure to allow people to carry concealed weapons from state to state Wednesday.

The vote was 58 to 39. The amendment needed 60 votes to pass.

The measure would have required each of the 48 states that currently allow concealed firearms to honor permits issued in other states.

It was the first significant defeat this year for the gun lobby, after a series of unexpected setbacks since the start of the Obama administration.

In May, President Barack Obama signed a credit card bill that included a provision allowing people to carry guns in national parks. Another bill that would have given the District of Columbia's representative in Congress full voting rights stalled earlier in the year after Senate Republicans attached a provision that would have eased tight gun controls in the district.

The concealed weapons proposal was an amendment to a larger defense appropriations bill, introduced by Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican.

Senator Thune said later that because of the closeness of the vote, he may try again to pass this needed legislation; while Senator Schumer made the idiotic comment that Americans were safer because the bill was defeated. Only a liberal could ignore the overwhelming statistics in favor of state carry laws and say something so stupid.