Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is urging members of Congress to protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights across state lines.
Marshall recently sent a multi-state letter calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. The resolution, H.R. 38, would allow those who are lawfully cleared to carry a concealed firearm in their home state to enjoy the same privileges in any other state where concealed carry is legal.
“Congress has the power to resolve this issue, and we are calling for immediate action on H.R. 38,” Marshall said. “Although Alabama no longer requires a permit to carry a concealed firearm, Alabamians traveling around our country might opt to purchase a permit to enjoy national reciprocity and would no longer face the risk of criminal penalties simply for exercising their constitutional rights in states with more restrictive laws.”
Constitutional Carry went into effect in Alabama in 2023, allowing Alabamians to conceal carry without a permit.
Marshall and 23 other state attorneys general emphasized that broad rights for concealed carry among law-abiding citizens promote public safety and respect gun owners’ fundamental liberties.
“Concealed carry is a constitutional right,” the letter states, “and it can have substantial public safety benefits by allowing people the means to respond to emergent threats to themselves or others when police are not immediately available to intervene.”
The letter refutes anti-gun critics, noting that anyone prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm is excluded. The attorneys general also cite independent studies showing that concealed carry licensees are more law-abiding than the general population.
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“Yet our constituents are threatened with arrest, prosecution, and mandatory prison time for technical violations of licensing or possession laws involving conduct that is perfectly legal in all but a handful of states, most of which have well-established history and practice of suppressing the right to keep and bear arms,” the letter explains. “This is unacceptable, and Congress has the authority and the duty to protect these rights.”
The Oklahoma and West Virginia-led letter was also signed by Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
