On Sunday, New York County District Attorney Cy Vance suggested Republican efforts to pass national reciprocity for concealed permit holders helps the Islamic State.
Speaking about Rep. Richard Hudson’s (R-NC) national reciprocity legislation–HR 38–Vance said, “this bill is supported, I’m sure, by ISIS.”
Vance said these things during an interview on AM 970 and the The Hill quoted Vance, saying, “It would be completely legal for a person to bring a loaded gun or guns in New York as long as it was legal to possess them in the person’s home state. A guy from Idaho, where there’s no permitting requirement whatsoever, could carry his gun into New York city loaded, into Times Square.”
He said that Congressional members supporting national reciprocity are “playing into the hand” of the Islamic State, and he pointed to the “ease” of buying guns in certain states in an attempt to bolster his point. For this reason he said, “ISIS is paying close attention to this [national reciprocity] bill as well.”
Of course, national reciprocity is not about purchasing guns; it is about mandating that all states recognize the rights of law-abiding Americans to carry guns for self-defense. Criminals are already carrying guns and terrorists are already using guns to kill innocents–see San Bernardino (December 2, 2015) and Orlando (June 12, 2016). National reciprocity simply levels the playing field by allowing law-abiding citizens to be armed in more states for the purposes of shooting back.
Vance went on to describe Michael Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety as a “think tank” and credited it with showing the dangers of national recognition of the concealed carry permits of law-abiding citizens.
On December 13, 2014, Breitbart News reported that Everytown’s list of “100 School Shootings” since Sandy Hook included non-school shootings, shootings that did not occur, and accidental discharges of firearms that were legally possessed on campus.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.