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OpenCarry.org Press Release - OpenCarry.org Proposes 2-Pronged National Firearm Carry

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Mike

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OpenCarry.org
A national gun rights community with 39,788 registered members
focused on the right to openly carry properly holstered handguns in daily American life.

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For Immediate Release – January 24, 2017
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Congratulations President Trump, Vice-President Pence, and all
newly elected Congress Members, State Governors, and State Legislators.
The only clear cut campaign issue in this last national election cycle pertained to the right to bear arms. Most winning candidates across all parties openly supported the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms.
So Let’s be Clear - It’s Time to Get to Work on National Gun Rights Legislation!

OpenCarry.org Proposes 2-Pronged National Firearm Carry Enforcement Statute (NFCES)
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(1) NFCES will deploy Congress’ Power to Enforce Civil Rights under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to Enforce the Second Amendment’s Right to Openly “Possess and Carry Firearms in Case of Confrontation.”

(2) NFCES shall Set Forth and Fund a Federal Concealed Handgun Carry Reciprocity Grant Program to provide an annual grant to all states, districts, and other federal possessions that accept all states’ concealed carry licenses just as the federal government has provided grants to states in exchange for state action enacting primary seat-belt enforcement laws.

From the view looking down OpenCarry.org’s gun sights, the only clear cut campaign issue in this last election cycle pertained to the right to bear arms at both state and federal levels. Most winning candidates across all parties openly supported the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms.
And now it’s time for action.
In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) the US Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, holding that the Second Amendment provides the right to “possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.”
But at the same time, the Heller Court observed that “the majority of the 19th-century courts to consider the question held that prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons were lawful under the Second Amendment or state analogues,” while statutes forbidding open carry were suspect and often struck down as unconstitutional. [emphasis added].
“Open carry, therefore, is the right,” says Mike Stollenwerk, co-founder of OpenCarry.org, adding that “concealed carry is a privilege which can be banned or sharply regulated by the sovereign states.”
Currently a full thirty states generally allow the open carry of properly holstered handguns – typically at the age of 18 - without the need for licenses, but only a small (but growing) number of states allow unlicensed concealed carry.
While President Trump campaigned in support of a nation-wide concealed hand gun carry reciprocity law, no specifics have yet emerged, “so we thought we would provide some as food for thought and action,” said Virginia attorney John Pierce,” co-founder of OpenCarry.org and a member of the American Bar Association’s firearms law subcommittee who specializes in gun trusts, the restoration of federal and state rights to possess a firearm, and other matters.
“First, we need to deal constitutionally with state and other federal possessions’ violations of the right to openly “possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.” But, second, at the same time, added Pierce,“we must also statutorily address the popular demand for interstate concealed handgun carry reciprocity.”
OpenCarry.org proposes a straight forward two-part conceptual framework to accomplish both goals through the National Firearm Carry Enforcement Statute (NFCES).

First, to quash unconstitutional state violations of the right to bear arms, NFCES will provide that Congress, pursuant to its Section 5 powers under the Fourteenth Amendment, forbids states from criminalizing the open possession and carry of firearms in case of confrontation on foot and in vehicles on public streets, alleys, thoroughfares, sidewalks, parks, and other similar public places.”
And second, NFCES will fund a federal concealed handgun carry reciprocity grant program to provide an annual grant to all states, districts, and other federal possessions that accept all states’ concealed carry licenses just as the federal government has provided grants to states in exchange for enacting primary seat-belt enforcement laws.



Carry on!
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John Pierce, BS, MBA, JD, co-founder, OpenCarry.org, John@OpenCarry.org, (276) 791-xxxx

Mike Stollenwerk, BS, MBA, MMAS, JD, & co-founder, OpenCarry.org, Mike@OpenCarry.org, (703) 945-xxxx
 
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