Dozens of people attend a vigil remembering the 59 people killed in Sunday's shooting in Las Vegas and calling for action against guns on October 4, 2017 in Newtown, Connecticut. The vigil, organized by the Newtown Action Alliance, was held outside the National Shooting Sport Foundation and looked to draw attention to gun violence in America. Twenty school children were killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown on December 14, 2012. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Powerful gun industry lobby exploits massacre that claimed 59 lives to push Congress to undermine tougher state-level laws
After a few days of familiar strategic silence in the wake of the nation's latest blood-soaked gun massacre, the NRA on Thursday predictably used its first public statement since the shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday to call for less restrictive federal guns laws.
"In an increasingly violent world," the NRA stated without any acknowledgement of its role in creating such conditions, "we urge Congress to pass National Right-to-Carry reciprocity, which will allow law-abiding Americans to defend themselves and their families from attacks of violence."
With similar bills in both the House and Senate, a federal law offering right-to-carry reciprocity would, according to the House version H.R. 38, "amend the federal criminal code to allow a qualified individual to carry a concealed handgun into or possess a concealed handgun in another state that allows individuals to carry concealed firearms." As Newsweeknotes, critics of such a law warn it "would enable the least restrictive requirements to apply to the entire country, thus undercutting the most stringent laws in some states."
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Jon QueallyJon Queally is managing editor of Common Dreams.
After a few days of familiar strategic silence in the wake of the nation's latest blood-soaked gun massacre, the NRA on Thursday predictably used its first public statement since the shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday to call for less restrictive federal guns laws.
"In an increasingly violent world," the NRA stated without any acknowledgement of its role in creating such conditions, "we urge Congress to pass National Right-to-Carry reciprocity, which will allow law-abiding Americans to defend themselves and their families from attacks of violence."
With similar bills in both the House and Senate, a federal law offering right-to-carry reciprocity would, according to the House version H.R. 38, "amend the federal criminal code to allow a qualified individual to carry a concealed handgun into or possess a concealed handgun in another state that allows individuals to carry concealed firearms." As Newsweeknotes, critics of such a law warn it "would enable the least restrictive requirements to apply to the entire country, thus undercutting the most stringent laws in some states."
