National Constitutional Carry Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9534 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9534

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 11, 2024

  Mr. Massie (for himself, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Biggs, Ms. Boebert, Mr. 
 Brecheen, Mr. Burchett, Mr. Cloud, Mr. Collins, Mr. Good of Virginia, 
Mr. Gosar, Ms. Greene of Georgia, Mr. Harris, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, 
 Mrs. Miller of Illinois, Mr. Moore of Alabama, Mr. Moran, Mr. Ogles, 
 Mr. Roy, Mrs. Spartz, Mr. Tiffany, and Mr. Weber of Texas) 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 dissuade 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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