National Constitutional Carry Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 645 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 645

To enforce the rights protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments
                          against the States.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 23, 2025

    Mr. Massie (for himself, Ms. Boebert, Mr. Biggs of Arizona, Mr.
    Brecheen, Mr. Burchett, Mr. Burlison, Mr. Cline, Mr. Cloud, Mr.
  Collins, Mr. Crane, Mr. Gosar, Ms. Greene of Georgia, Mr. Harris of
  Maryland, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Langworthy, Mrs. Luna, Mrs.
  Miller of Illinois, Mr. Moore of Alabama, Mr. Moran, Mr. Ogles, Mr.
  Rose, Mr. Roy, Mr. Self, Mrs. Spartz, Ms. Tenney, Mr. Tiffany, Mr.
    Weber of Texas, Mr. Wied, Mr. Gill of Texas, and Mr. Harrigan)
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To enforce the rights protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments
                          against the States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Constitutional Carry Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Recognizing the preexisting right to self-defense, the
        Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
        guarantees individually to American citizens the right ``to
        keep and bear arms'', including the right to bear arms in
        public.
            (2) The Second Amendment decrees that these rights to keep
        and bear arms ``shall not be infringed'', and was enumerated in
        order to preserve ``the security of a free State''.
            (3) In District of Columbia v. Heller (554 U.S. 570, 595
        (2008)), the Supreme Court confirmed that ``[t]here seems to us
        no doubt, on the basis of both text and history, that the
        Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear
        arms''.
            (4) In McDonald v. City of Chicago (561 U.S. 742, 791
        (2010)), the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment
        makes the Second Amendment fully applicable to the States. Four
        Justices concluded that the rights protected by the Second
        Amendment are fundamental to the Nation's scheme of ordered
        liberty and deeply rooted in this Nation's ``history and
        tradition'', and therefore incorporated to the States through
        the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice
        Thomas agreed that the rights protected by the Second Amendment
        are both ``fundamental'' and ``deeply rooted'' and, as such,
        are enforceable against the States under the Fourteenth
        Amendment's Privileges and Immunities Clause.
            (5) Recently, the Supreme Court acknowledged in New York
        State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen (142 S. Ct. 2111, 2156
        (2022)), that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the
        individual right to carry arms outside the home for self-
        defense. Further, the Court reiterated that the Second
        Amendment's otherwise ``unqualified command'' only accommodates
        laws that are ``consistent with this Nation's historical
        tradition of firearm regulation'' (Id. at 2126).
            (6) Certain States and localities have enacted gun control
        laws that are not consistent with the text of the Second
        Amendment or this Nation's historical tradition of firearm
        regulation. The criminalization of peaceable, public firearms
        carry is repugnant to the original meaning of the Second
        Amendment.
            (7) Any State or local restriction on the right of American
        citizens to keep and bear arms impairs the ability of the
        Second Amendment to achieve its textually specified purpose,
        ``the security of a free State''.

SEC. 3. THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS.

    (a) In General.--Section 927 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 927. The right to keep and bear arms
    ``(a) No State or political subdivision of a State may impose a
criminal or civil penalty on, or otherwise indirectly limit the
carrying of firearms (including by imposing a financial or other
barrier to entry) in public by residents or nonresidents of that State
who are citizens of the United States and otherwise eligible to possess
firearms under State and Federal law.
    ``(b) Any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of a
State or a political subdivision of a State that criminalizes,
penalizes, or otherwise indirectly dissuades the carrying of firearms
(including by imposing a financial or other barrier to entry) in public
by any resident or nonresident who is a United States citizen and
otherwise eligible to possess firearms under State and Federal law,
shall have no force or effect.
    ``(c) The term `State' as used in this section includes the
District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the
possessions of the United States (not including the Canal Zone).
    ``(d) The term `public' as used in this section--
            ``(1) includes any place held open to the public,
        regardless of ownership, but in the case of a privately-owned
        location held open to the public, does not include a place
        where the owner communicates clearly and conspicuously a
        prohibition of firearms on the premises; and
            ``(2) does not include a place where screening for firearms
        is conducted under State law.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for such chapter is
amended by striking the item relating to section 927 and inserting the
following:

``927. The right to keep and bear arms.''.
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