One of the big goals at the federal level is national constitutional carry. It’s an unlikely scenario here and now, but the truth is that we’ve probably never been closer to achieving it, and while it’s a tough sell in Washington right now, the Overton Window shifts both ways. What’s a tough sell today could be tomorrow’s no-brainer.
But, for that to happen, we need legislators who are committed to making that a reality.
Enter one guntuber turned political candidate. Again.
Yes, I’m talking about Brandon Herrera.
As he builds out his upstart congressional campaign, Brandon Herrera says a top priority in Congress would be forcing every state to let people carry guns in public, regardless of whether they have a permit.
“I want to see nationwide constitutional carry,” he said at the Gun Owners of America Leadership Summit in Iowa earlier this month, sparking cheers and applause from the attendees.
Herrera, a San Antonio Republican known online as “The AK Guy,” has built his career on advocating against gun restrictions. The policy he is now pushing, while popular among his followers, has yet to gain broad support from lawmakers. A similar measure from outgoing U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie has stalled out in the GOP-led House.
Permitless carry has been legal in Texas since 2021. A national mandate would force the hand of states with stricter requirements to make obtaining a gun easier – foregoing typical steps like background checks and safety training.
In his campaign, Herrera has pushed more for “reciprocity” over a nationwide mandate, meaning states that don’t allow permitless carry would have to recognize the rights of permit holders from states that do when they travel there.
But earlier this month he told social media followers that “nationwide constitutional carry is a very achievable goal if we retain the house.” In Iowa, he said a federal law mandating reciprocity would be a step in the right direction.
“Let’s just keep moving the needle in the direction we want it to go,” he said.
Honestly, that last line is important. Taking incremental steps isn’t compromise. It’s winning. Compromise is what we saw with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Herrera blasted later in the piece.
National reciprocity is a step in that direction, and let’s be real here: if the tides shift against us, having that on the books will be a key bulwark against encroachment by individual states.
Now, I’m a fan of Herrera. I think his videos are fun and he pisses off all of the right people. His winning would make heads explode, which is all the reason I’d need to pull for him. I don’t agree with him on everything, but I agree with him on the Second Amendment completely.
Not everyone does, though.
University of California, Los Angeles law professor Adam Winkler says the increased calls for nationwide permitless carry doesn’t seem to track a similar rise in public support for it.
“But, it has spread,” Winkler said. “In the last seven years or so, we’ve seen almost half the states adopt that. I don’t think it’s led by some huge public demand for it, but it is gun rights legislatures and gun rights advocates who’ve been pushing for it and they’ve been pretty successful so far.”
You know, it’s funny to me how public support matters until it doesn’t.
If gun control is unpopular, that shouldn’t matter, and politicians should step up and “do the right thing” even if it costs them their jobs. When something they oppose is unpopular, they don’t blink to call it unpopular and argue that politicians should listen to the will of the people or something.
And understand that Winkler will never point that out about anti-gunners. Ever. Neither will most of the media’s other preferred talking heads.
National constitutional carry does nothing but restore our rights.
Anti-gunners are cited as saying that the lack of background checks and training mandates will lead to more shootings, but since half of the states are currently constitutional carry states and aren’t seeing this supposed problem, one has to wonder why our rights are being held hostage to unfounded fearmongering.
Herrera wants to change all of this, and he’s willing to take the first step, then move to take the next. That’s precisely how we lost rights in the first place, and it’s how we’ll get them back.
What we need, though, are a few dozen others in the House and the Senate each who want to do the exact same thing.
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