Who's for National Reciprocity ... and who's against it

In the interest of public service to all gun lovers, here the list of who voted for and against the National Reciprocity amendment yesterday in the U.S. Senate. I proudly note that both of North Carolina's U.S. Senators, Democrat Kay Hagan and Republican Robert Burr, voted for it.

Here's the list I stole from the NRA-ILA site:

YEAs ---58
Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Begich (D-AK) Bennet (D-CO) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Casey (D-PA) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID)	DeMint (R-SC) Dorgan (D-ND) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Feingold (D-WI) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagan (D-NC) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (D-SD) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Lincoln (D-AR) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ)	McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Reid (D-NV) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Snowe (R-ME) Tester (D-MT) Thune (R-SD) Udall (D-CO) Udall (D-NM) Vitter (R-LA) Warner (D-VA) Webb (D-VA) Wicker (R-MS)

NAYs ---39
Akaka (D-HI) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Burris (D-IL) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA) Franken (D-MN) Gillibrand (D-NY)	Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Kaufman (D-DE) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lugar (R-IN) McCaskill (D-MO) Menendez (D-NJ)	Merkley (D-OR) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Reed (D-RI) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Specter (D-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Voinovich (R-OH) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting - 3
Byrd (D-WV)	Kennedy (D-MA)	Mikulski (D-MD)

Remember those Nays come November. NRA-ILA leader Chris Cox sums up the vote.

“While we are disappointed that the 60 vote procedural hurdle was not met, the vote shows that a bipartisan majority agrees with the NRA,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. “We would like to thank Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), along with all senators who voted in favor of this amendment on both sides of the aisle. The efforts of these senators were not in vain, as the NRA will continue to work tirelessly to ensure this important legislation finds the right avenue to come before Congress once again.”

And Senator Thune said afterward it ain't over yet. He promised to bring this issue up again.

Two turncoat Republican Senators sink national reciprocity

Et tu, Brutus? We lost the vote for national reciprocity by two stinking votes, 58 yes and 39 no, but the unkindest cut of all is that two Republican Senators joined the libtards in voting no.

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday turned aside the latest effort 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 military authorization bill, a must-pass piece of legislation. But the provision got only 58 votes, two short of the 60 needed under Senate rules.

Two Republicans, Senators Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and George V. Voinovich of Ohio, joined with 35 Democrats and 2 independents to reject the amendment, which was bitterly opposed by a number of big-city mayors, including Michael R. Bloomberg of New York.

With friends like Dick Lugar and George Voinovich, we don't need no stinkin' enemies. A pox on both their houses. And as King James would say, it really sucketh big time that we got 58 votes but still lost. That's what happens when the deck's stacked against you with the libtards in power. You gotta have a supermajority, not just a majority to stop them from screwing you.

And guess which very prominent Democrat big shot in the Senate voted for the measure?

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, who is up for re-election in 2010, also supported the measure.

You know you've got a lame excuse for being in power when even the Majority Leader of the frickin' Democrats in the Senate votes with the Republicans and conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Just shows you Harry "The War Is Lost!" Reid knows there's enough gun owners in Nevada to ride him out of town on a rail if he voted against their right to keep and bear arms.

Oh well, another day, another battle. We will win in the end because we're on the right side.

National reciprocity for right-to-carry vote tomorrow

I love it when the leftwingnuts get their panties all up in a wad. And they're just about to have a lay-down-and-have-a-hissy-fit breakdown. Also known as a conniption fit. The NRA-ILA says the Thune-Vitter Amendment is coming to a vote tomorrow and the brown stuff's in the fan.

The U.S. Senate will vote at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow -- Wednesday, July 22 -- on an amendment to protect your right to self-defense. The anti-gunners are now doing everything that they can to defeat this amendment and the vote by your Senator is likely to determine the outcome. So it is critical for you to call and e-mail your Senator now and urge her to support and vote for the Thune-Vitter Amendment.

The Senate is now considering an amendment by Senators John Thune (R-SD) and David Vitter (R-LA) that will provide interstate recognition of Right-to-Carry licenses and permits. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" -- and other anti-gun leaders and organizations -- are running ads and spreading lies to scare your Senators into opposing this important self-defense reciprocity reform.

The flap has gotten serious enough that even the Washington Post has taken notice. My, my!

Senate Democrats are scrambling to defeat a Republican-backed provision that would allow gun owners to carry their weapons across state lines, overriding the stricter laws of many jurisdictions and giving preference to states with looser standards.

Critics, including police organizations, big-city mayors and gun-victims groups, decried the legislation as creating "a new national lowest common denominator" for ownership of firearms. But twice this year, Republicans have succeeded in rolling back restrictions on guns with substantial backing from moderate Democrats, many newly elected from Western states with strong Second Amendment traditions.

For a minority party with little influence on Capitol Hill, the gun votes represent a rare opportunity to divide a filibuster-proof Senate Democratic majority. In May, the GOP lured 27 Senate Democrats to support looser rules on firearms in national parks; the measure passed the House and was signed by President Obama as part of an unrelated credit-card bill.

In February, 22 Senate Democrats joined Republicans to stall the District's quest for House voting rights by demanding that the legislation also ease D.C. gun restrictions.

The latest measure, offered by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), has far greater reach. Offered Monday as an amendment to the defense authorization bill, it would allow people to carry concealed firearms across state lines, provided they "have a valid permit or if, under their state of residence . . . are entitled to do so."

And there's good reason for the Democrats to smell defeat on this issue. Even Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry "The War Is Lost!" Reid, supposedly leader of the fight against this dastardly plot by the Republicans, is (gasp!) expected to vote for the Thune-Vitter amendment.

... Reid voted for both pro-gun measures earlier this year and is viewed as a likely "yes" on Thune's amendment, although he has not declared a position. A vote on the amendment could come Wednesday, said Jim Manley, Reid's spokesman.

Thune described his amendment as a crime-prevention tool. "Since criminals are unable to tell who is and who is not carrying a firearm just by looking at a potential victim, they are less likely to commit crimes when they fear that they may come in direct contact with an individual who is armed," he said in the statement.

What a concept! Armed, lawful citizens causing armed criminals to think twice about crime. What will they think of next? How about taking the 2nd Amendment seriously, at long last.

I wholeheartedly agree with the NRA-ILA, if you haven't contacted your Senator, do it now!

Please be sure to contact both of your U.S. Senators today, and urge them to cosponsor and support the Thune-Vitter interstate right to carry reciprocity amendment. E-mail and call them immediately!

To find contact information for your U.S. Senators, please click here, or call (202) 224-3121.

U.S. Senate To Consider Right-To-Carry Reciprocity Amendment

Great news! The U.S. Senate will consider on Monday or Tuesday legislation that will extend right-to-carry permit reciprocity to all 50 states of the Union. (Or all 57 states, depending on your geography skills.)

The National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) has the details.

The U.S. Senate is now considering the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1390). As a part of the consideration of that legislation, Senators John Thune (R-SD) and David Vitter (R-LA) will offer an amendment on Monday to provide for interstate recognition of Right-to-Carry permits. There is a very high likelihood of a Senate floor vote on this important and timely pro-gun reform on Monday or Tuesday.

While the right to possess firearms for self-defense within the home has long been respected under the law, for most of our nation's history, state and local governments have prohibited ordinary citizens from possessing firearms for self-defense in many settings outside the home. Recently, however, most state legislatures have taken steps to reduce those restrictions. In the last twenty years, the number of states that respect the right to carry has risen from 10 to 40 -- an all-time high.

Contact Your U.S. Senators TODAY And Urge Them To Support Your Right To Self-Defense

If I may be permitted to "put words in your mouth," here's the short sentence I composed for an email to my two U.S. Senators after clicking on the contact link above.

Please cosponsor and support the Thune-Vitter amendment to the National
Defense Authorization Act (S. 1390) to provide for interstate recognition
of Right-to-Carry permits.

At present, North Carolina's concealed-handgun permit has full reciprocity with 30 states, meaning I can legally carry my concealed handgun in NC and also in those states. Here's the current list off the N.C. Attorney General's site:

States with North Carolina Agreements

Alabama	Kansas	Oklahoma
Alaska	Kentucky	Pennsylvania
Arizona	Louisiana	South Carolina
Arkansas	Michigan	South Dakota
Colorado	Mississippi	Tennessee
Delaware	Missouri	Texas
Florida	Montana	Utah
Georgia	New Hampshire	Virginia
Idaho	North Dakota	Washington
Indiana	Ohio	West Virginia

Time for national reciprocity law

When I travel from God's country here in North Carolina, my concealed carry permit is recognized without restriction in 30 states, so I can go from Florida to Pennsylvania (if I avoid Maryland where my wife's sister lives) and be legally armed. But when we cross the state line into New York, where my wife's family has a summer home, my pistols can't come with me.

As the King James Version saith, that sucketh. Isn't the right to keep and bear arms protected by the national constitution, the 2nd Amendment to our Bill of Rights? Yes, the Supremes just said by a razor-thin margin in the Heller vs. D.C. case. But. There's always a but. They didn't throw out all the state and local laws restricting RTKBA, just the D.C. monstrosity. So the fight goes on, city by city, state by state. Or maybe there's a better way to skin this particular cat.

A.W.R. Hawkins asks Is It Time for Federal Reciprocity of Concealed Carry Permits?

There are at least two strong justifications for national reciprocity. The first springs from the Second Amendment itself, where we read that the right to keep and bear arms “shall not be infringed.” With these words, our Founders were hedging in a natural right and thus placing it off limits from federal or state government interference. Moreover, as Justice Antonin Scalia rightly concluded in the Heller case, our Founders did not want a city government -- such as San Francisco, Chicago, or D.C. -- to infringe upon it either. No government constructed by man has the right to deny us the rights that are ours by way of birth.

In other words, laws or policies that infringe upon our natural rights are wrong whether those laws or policies emanate from the President, the Congress, the court system, a state government, or the San Francisco City Council. Our Founders gave no government a veto over natural rights. This is why Ted Nugent is quick and accurate in saying he “has a concealed carry permit called the Second Amendment.”

Government-issued laws that limit our right to keep and bear arms are infringements on natural law itself. Like the Supreme Court said in the Heller decision, natural rights are preserved by the Constitution, and the right to self-defense is a natural right. It’s our right as humans, not something the government granted us out of its good grace.

In other words, maybe us gun nuts shouldn't be using a pea-shooter to protect our rights. Let's break out the cannons and go for the biggest target of all, a federal reciprocity law. Great idea!