Republicans Push Reciprocity in D.C. After Scalise Shooting

Following last month's congressional baseball shooting, Republicans are pushing HR 2909 to force Washington, D.C. into recognizing concealed carry permits from other states.

Republicans want to avoid what happened when lawmakers were left defenseless as a Bernie Sanders supporter opened fire on them in Virginia. Many are permitted to carry in their home states, but had traveled directly from Capitol Hill where guns are banned.

“With the unfortunate situation of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) getting shot, everybody is concerned about their personal safety as a member of Congress, so there's a personal motivation for a lot of folks to get this bill passed,” says Rep. Blake Farenthold of Corpus Christi.

Fortunately, the House Majority Whip was accompanied by two armed U.S. Capitol Police officers who returned fire and killed the gunman.

“But the for fact that Scalise attended that practice, which he doesn't attend all of them, congressmen there would have been sitting ducks, they would have had baseball bats against guns,” says Farenthold.

Farenthold believes nationwide reciprocity is the next step.

“If you look at the statistics, it's areas that have the toughest gun laws that tend to have some of the highest gun crime rates,” he says. “So I really do think knowing that folks are carrying is actually a deterrent.”


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