Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t doing particularly well in the 2024 presidential primary polls right now, but it’s early. As it stands, he is doing what most candidates do, which is spend a lot of time in New Hampshire.
A good showing in New Hampshire might just boost his chances, so it’s unsurprising he’s doing it. All the candidates are.
Recently, during an event, DeSantis fielded a lot of questions, but there was one bit in particular that stood out to me.
He said he’d sign a national carry law.
DeSantis also faced questions on gun rights, with one voter asking him whether he would sign a bill allowing concealed carry of permitted firearms nationwide.
“Yes. Live free or die, man. Come on,” DeSantis said. “This is a constitutional right. You’re here in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has been very clear.”
Now, without an exact quote of the question, I can’t be sure if we’re looking at some kind of national concealed carry permit, national reciprocity, or national constitutional carry.
Of course, considering DeSantis’s comments in response, one would think we’re talking about constitutional carry.
If that is indeed what he meant, then that’s huge.
The current system now post-Bruen means that every state is shall issue, which is good, but for those who travel out of state, there’s an issue. First, if you’re in a constitutional carry state, you have to still get a permit in order to enjoy reciprocity at all.
Then you have to accept that your state may not have reciprocity with the state you’ll be traveling to.
If you’re lucky, that state will issue permits to non-residents. If so, you’re good to go…assuming you can meet all the relevant requirements. If not, well, sucks to be you.
Then you have states like California that will only recognize permits they issue and won’t issue them to anyone from out of state.
Any kind of national carry law would undo that very system, thus allowing Americans to enjoy their right to keep and bear arms pretty much anywhere, at least to some degree.
If we’re talking national constitutional carry, then even better.
Should this come to pass, it’ll be the first federal pro-gun legislation we’ve seen since the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act’s passage back in 2005.
However, we also shouldn’t get too excited.
For one thing, this is an off-the-cuff response to a question during a campaign event by a candidate trailing the frontrunner by a significant margin. I’m not saying DeSantis doesn’t mean it, but this also isn’t a policy position by the campaign, either.
It probably should be, mind you, but it’s not.
Further, this isn’t DeSantis saying he would push this kind of legislation, only that if it crosses his desk, he would sign it. That’s quite a step away from “I want to pass this as president.”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see it and I sincerely hope other presidential candidates get asked this question. I want to start seeing Republican candidates have to do more than promise to keep the status quo on guns.
It seems DeSantis is willing to shake things up in the right direction, even if no one else is.
