One of the biggest items on the agenda for many gun owners is national reciprocity. The time for such a law has never been better, with the GOP holding both chambers of Congress, the White House, and a majority on the Supreme Court. It seems likely that national reciprocity needs to happen now or it may never happen.

However, despite passing in the House, there’s been no movement on the Senate’s version of the bill. Is Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to blame?

Some say he is.

Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn introduced the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 some 45 weeks ago. Three-hundred-and-twenty-three days have passed since the introduction of Senate Bill 446 on March 1, 2017. Nothing. You can thank Kentucky Republican and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell . . .

 

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Perhaps there’s some other political calculus of which I’m not aware. Maybe Senator McConnell is waiting for the right moment to restore gun rights on the federal level. When would that be, exactly?

While we’re asking questions, where does Sen. McConnell stand on Americans’ Constitutional rights? Does he support the Second Amendment as writ, or did he swindle those Kentucky voters back in 2014 and the millions of NRA voters that poured their hard earned money into his campaign? We shall see.

Politics is a messy business, especially when you’re in leadership. There’s no point in bringing a law to a vote when you know it won’t pass unless you’re trying to make a point with it not passing. While Republicans control the Senate, they don’t have a supermajority. Perhaps McConnell is worried about Democrats filibustering the bill, thus bogging it down?

However, if that’s the case, then you might as well give up now. You’re giving Democrats the ground without there even being a fight. Democrats from pro-gun states won’t be forced to choose between party and their constituents, thus leveraging them to either vote for the bill or set the groundwork for a Republican to take that seat come next election. You’re just making it too easy for them.

But I can’t help but think McConnell’s been around too long for that to be the reason. He knows how the game is played, and he knows that even the bill being blocked can count as a win if you handle it right. So why the holdup?

Frankly, I haven’t got a clue. It does seem to boil down to McConnell not being as pro-gun as he claimed to be as Candidate McConnell. He was more than willing to take the NRA’s money as well as the money of legions of the NRA’s supporters for his campaign war chest, but now that it’s time for those contributors to get a little something back for their investment, McConnell doesn’t seem willing to deliver.

National reciprocity needs to be brought to a vote. Win or lose, gun rights advocates have earned the chance to see who really stands with us and to make ready to remove any politician who stands against us.

It’s on Senator McConnell to make that happen, so he needs to get to it. Otherwise, the only one being targeted by gun rights activists might just be him.