PAUL RYAN BLOCKING CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY, CONGRESSMAN TELLS ARMED AMERICAN RADIO
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Massie introduced his legislation after the ball field shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise and other Republicans by an anti-Trump Bernie Sanders supporter in Alexandria, VA.
“I
would tell you this is a gun-free zone except that I know the criminals
are carrying every day,” Massie told Walters via phone from “right
outside the Capitol.
“It is only a 10-mile gun-free zone for
law-abiding citizens,” Massie explained. “Although Virginia’s a
reciprocity state, and most everybody with a permit could have been
carrying in Virginia, they couldn’t carry in Washington D.C. where they
started their day and where they were going to end their day.”
District gun laws meant those who left their D.C. offices for the ball field were unarmed and at this guy’s mercy by mandate.What
prevented the shooting from being worse and racking up a higher victim
toll was that a member of the leadership had police protection, Massie
said. “I guarantee you there are thousands of firearms here in D.C.
they’re just not in the hands of lawful citizens.”
Massie went on
to explain how he’s seen “a lot of pro-gun bills being introduced but
they were going nowhere.” That’s a common tactic among politicians happy
to capitalize off good press they can showcase to their constituents
while cynically understanding the bills are intended for that, not to
actually be passed and to change anything.
So why has there been no movement on reciprocity and on the additional provision of recognizing state permits in the District?
“We’ve
got over 80 cosponsors at this point,” Massie told Walters when asked
the status of his bill, which is currently and procedurally in the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform because Congress has
oversight responsibility for Washington D.C. He’s “pressing for a
hearing on it.”
Massie is understandably frustrated by “leadership” obstruction.“Why
haven’t we seen movement over either 38 or 2909 since the horrific
events in Virginia?” Walters asked, noting the Republicans control the
House and the Senate and both Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell appear to be blocking bills advancing the right to keep and
bear arms.
“You know what?” Massie replied, “The Speaker told me
he didn’t think the timing was right. And I think this is the exact
timing to bring this bill.”
Of course it is. What a disingenuous excuse. When will the timing be better?
The
thing is, depending on who gun owners listen to, both Ryan and
McConnell are called “staunch supporters of the Second Amendment.” Yet
time after time, on guns, on Obamacare, on immigration, on any real
change, they look like they’re taking positions directly contrary to why
a critical mass of Americans got tired of standard Republican
excuse-making fare and voted for Donald Trump.
Rights depend on “timing”?“A right delayed is a right denied,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted.
Any “Republican” who doesn’t understand that deserves to be replaced by someone who does.
“Politics
is the art of the possible,” apologists for the status quo representing
themselves as “pragmatic” will counter. “The perfect is the enemy of
the good.”
Requiring permits in the first place is hardly perfect.
And as far as what is possible goes, how would those averse to testing
limits have a clue?
About David Codrea:
David
Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating /
defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who
defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.