As national gun rights organizations are throwing their support behind H.R. 38, the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has essentially upped the ante by launching a 60-second television ad on several cable networks calling on viewers to sign a petition to Congress to support the measure.
The text of H.R. 38 may be read here.
The campaign takes on another dimension for CCRKBA, which is based in Washington state, where new data from the state Department of Licensing shows the number of active concealed pistol licenses is starting to recover from a slight slump, heading back toward the 700,000 mark set last fall. According to the new figures, Washington now has 699,842 active CPLs, where the final figure for 2024 was 699,140 licenses, a rise of just over 700 more citizens licensed to carry in the state.
Should Congress pass national reciprocity and send it to President Donald Trump—he’s already promised to sign such a measure—it would mean those Washingtonians, and millions of other legally-licensed citizens across the country, could travel to all other states and not leave their Second Amendment rights, as well as their right of self-defense, at the border.
Other organizations backing the proposed reciprocity law are the National Rifle Association (NRA), Gun Owners of America (GOA), the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).
CCRKBA’s television ad was scheduled to be airing on the following networks: Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax, CNN, MSNBC, HLN, Weather Channel, CNBC, Bloomberg, BBC America, World Fishing, History Channel, TBN, AHC, Outdoor Channel, Game Show, RFD, OAN, Direct TV and DISH TV, as well as others. Viewers are urged to call 800-338-1251 and Press #1 to sign the CCRKBA petition to Congress supporting the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act.
By no small coincidence, Evergreen State gun owners are currently locked in a battle to prevent their rights under the federal and state constitutions from being further eroded by legislation pushed by the Seattle-based, and billionaire-backed, Alliance for Gun Responsibility.
In a Tuesday morning interview with Renee Hopkins, executive director of the gun control group airing on KVI-AM, she defended one of the most controversial of the current bills, House Bill 1163. This measure would create a permit-to-purchase requirement for gun owners and buyers, including a background check, proof of firearms training within the past five years, and a live fire demonstration. The requirements would also apply to obtaining a CPL.
WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS ADVANCE GUN CONTROL BILLS
Quizzed by host John Carlson, who observed, “I can’t think of a constitutional right where you need to get a permit to exercise a right; I can’t see how this passes constitutional muster,” Hopkins tried to steer the conversation toward safety for children, and also asserted Carlson had been “talking to Alan (Gottlieb) again.”
Gottlieb is the longtime CCRKBA chairman who has been on the forefront of the fight to protect gun rights in the state.
But Carlson persisted, challenging Hopkins, “Can you name me a constitutional right that you have to get a permit (from the police) to exercise?”
Hopkins responded, “We have a right to life in our country, and with that it means other responsibilities on other rights are going to be necessary, and the bottom line is that when we talk about gun violence in our country it the leading cause of death among children and anyone who feels okay with that I question.
I think it is really, really important that we think about this not as a gun issue but as a public health issue and a right to life issue, and a right to life issue for our children.”
She did not directly answer the question. Nowhere in the Second Amendment or Article I, Section 24 of the state constitution does it require police permission to exercise the right to keep and bear arms.
In a statement supporting H.R. 38, the reciprocity act, Gottlieb explained, “When our nation was founded, our forefathers didn’t need permits to carry when they crossed into different states or territories, and in today’s world, our carry permits and licenses should be automatically honored everywhere on American soil, from the Florida Keys to the Aleutian Islands.
“No U.S. citizen should ever need to worry about being arrested and prosecuted for merely exercising his or her rights under the Second Amendment or our state constitutions,” he added. “Passage of the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act would prevent such legal outrages, and provide assurance that wherever an American travels on American soil, their right to bear arms, as well as their right to self-defense, is protected.”
Meanwhile, it appears another restrictive gun control measure, House Bill 1504, requiring gun owner insurance, has been pulled from the agenda of a public hearing scheduled Wednesday in Olympia, the Washington state capital.
