HR 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity act, passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 272 to 154. This bill requires states to recognize the carry permits issued by other states.
Many have expressed surprise that Rep. Rob Woodall, Republican of the Georgia 7th District, voted No, despite being a proponent of the Second Amendment. But Mr. Woodall explained his position clearly on the floor of the House.
At first I thought his position was a cop-out, but I find it a well reasoned and lucid explanation.
Unfortunately, it's based on fantasy and wishful thinking.
It assumes that all the states enforce and apply the Second Amendment, so we must enforce and apply the Tenth Amendment and allow them to continue to do so. The problem is that all states don't apply the Second Amendment. In fact, some actively oppose it. The purpose of HR 822 is to enforce the Second Amendment explicitly rather than implicitly.
Just about every Amendment since the 13th has included the phrase "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation" or similar language. Before that, it was understood that Congress would enforce the Constitution with appropriate legislation. That's the Congress's job.
All HR 822 does is enforce the Second Amendment with appropriate legislation.
Doing that with the Tenth Amendment is another issue for another time.
