New U.S. Senate Constitutional Carry Bill Would End State Permit Systems for Concealed Carry

A new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate is attempting to do something that should have been done a long time ago: establish constitutional carry nationwide.

On March 5, Senator Mike Lee of Utah, introduced the National Constitutional Carry Act, legislation that would allow Americans who are legally allowed to possess firearms to carry concealed without a government issued permit.

Right now, the rules around carrying a firearm are a confusing patchwork of state laws. In many states, citizens must apply for a permit, pay fees, submit fingerprints, complete training courses, and wait weeks or months for approval before they can legally carry a concealed handgun.

Cross a state line, and the rules can change overnight.

A gun owner who is perfectly legal in one state can suddenly be facing criminal charges in another simply for failing to navigate a maze of permits, reciprocity agreements, and local restrictions.

Lee’s bill attempts to change that.

In practice, The National Constitutional Carry Act it would override state permit requirements that currently act as a gatekeeping system for concealed carry.

The argument behind the bill is straightforward: the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms, not just own them. And a constitutional right shouldn’t disappear the moment someone crosses a state border.

“The Founders established a national right to keep and bear arms, not to ask for permission from hostile local officials or risk imprisonment for crossing the wrong state line,” Lee said in a statement.

The proposal builds on the rapid expansion of constitutional carry laws across the country over the past decade. Nearly 30 states now allow some form of permitless carry, though the details vary widely.

A companion bill has also been introduced in the House by Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

Whether the legislation actually moves in Congress is another question. Firearm policy at the federal level rarely advances without a major political shift, and a bill expanding gun rights nationwide will face strong opposition.

Still, the introduction of the National Constitutional Carry Act signals something important: the national conversation is starting to shift from how much government permission should be required for gun ownership to whether permission should be required at all.

Meanwhile in Colorado

While Congress debates a national approach, Colorado lawmakers will be facing a similar question at the state level.

Colorado HB26-1212 Constitutional Carry of a Handgun is currently pending in the Colorado General Assembly. The bill would allow Coloradans who can legally possess a firearm to carry concealed without first obtaining a concealed handgun permit.

The bill is expected to be killed in it’s first committee hearing due to Colorado’s strong anti-gun climate. That hearing has has not yet been scheduled.

Another Colorado bill died in committee after a proposal to improve criminal monitoring of people in positions of trust, like school staff, collided with an unintended consequence: gun owners would have been swept into the same system because concealed carry permits require fingerprint background checks through the CBI. Constitutional Carry would have made that a non-issue. I wrote about the bill here. 

Track these bills, along with all Colorado gun bills, on our Legislative Watch page.