Rep. Thomas Massie Submits Bill for D.C. to Recognize Concealed Carry Permits from Every State

The day after the heinous Alexandria attack on unarmed victims, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced a bill requiring Washington, D.C., to recognize concealed carry permits from every state.

Bloomberg’s Sahil Kapur tweeted:

Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY) says he's intro'd a bill to allow anybody who has a concealed carry gun permit in their home state to use that in DC.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) June 15, 2017

During an appearance on Fox Business’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Massie explained that he was motivated to push for the reciprocity expansion after watching the targeting of unarmed congressional members.

He said, “What I’m trying to do is anticipate how to avoid a tragic situation in the future, and what the American people don’t realize is that most congressman [sic] do not have a security detail and we are as exposed as the general public is exposed as they come to visit our nation’s Capitol.”

The idea behind Massie’s push is that people with permits in Maryland, Virginia, or elsewhere currently have to forego keeping a gun with them when they drive into Washington. This creates a situation where they attend events like Wednesday’s congressional baseball practice without a gun close at hand.

The Hill reports, “While the shooting happened in Virginia, which has relatively lax laws governing the carrying of firearms, several Republicans have argued in the wake of the attack that, because most lawmakers stay in Washington, they would have been unable to bring guns with them to Alexandria.”

On the day of the Alexandria attack, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) talked about how one of his staff members keeps a gun in his car in Georgia but could not do so in northern Virginia because he had to drive that car into Washington.

Loudermilk said that same staff member had a clear shot on the Alexandria attacker and could have taken him out had he had a gun.

Notably, Massie’s bill would not simply apply to congressional members, but to every American who has a concealed carry permit.

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.