House Votes to Ease Laws on Carrying Guns

Expansion of gun rights faces opposition in the Senate from Democrats.

The House of Representatives passed a bill that would enable gun owners who legally carry concealed firearms in one state to carry them in the other 49 states, sending a major expansion of gun rights to the Senate, where it faces deep opposition from Democrats.

The bill, approved by a vote of 231-198 on Wednesday, would allow residents from states with few restrictions on concealed guns to walk around armed in states with tighter laws. Residents of 12 states where it is legal to carry a concealed gun without a permit would be able to bring firearms into states like New York, where residents must demonstrate a special need for self-protection for the same right.

Republicans bundled the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, introduced by Rep. Richard Hudson (R., N.C.), with another bill that would prod states and federal agencies to feed more records into the federal criminal-background-check system queried in most gun purchases.

While House Democrats supported that latter measure as a standalone bill, they broadly opposed the reciprocity legislation, which they said would trample on the prerogative of states to set their own standards for carrying guns in public.

Those standards vary widely.

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