If you are gun owner who travels with her firearm, Republican lawmakers are trying to help you out.
It can be a real hassle to travel with a firearm, especially if you have to go through a gun-hostile state to reach your final destination. Perhaps you are a sportsman, traveling through an anti-2A state and your car breaks down or your flight is delayed. Things can quickly go south. Ask Greg Revell, who “was thrown in jail for 10 days in 2005 after his flight was delayed causing him to miss his connecting flight and become stranded in New Jersey with his unloaded firearm.”
The Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 allows gun owners to transport their firearms from the state where they legally posses them to another state as long as they follow certain rules like making sure the gun is unloaded and not accessible to passengers. A new bill introduced by Sen. Orrinn Hatch and Rep. Morgan Griffith expands the current act.
The new bill would expand those protections to include stops along the interstate trip and even overnight stays. It would also require that the state pay attorneys’ fees for individuals who successfully defend themselves in court under the bill. It would further allow those who are illegally detained for transporting firearms in accordance with the law to sue the jurisdiction that detained them for damages.
The purpose of the legislation is to protect firearms owners from what I consider to be overzealous anti-2A behavior, as was the case with poor Shaneen Allen, who accidentally drove into New Jersey with her Pennsylvania-legal firearm.
“This bill safeguards our Second Amendment rights by strengthening federal protections for responsible gun owners travelling across state lines,” Hatch said in a statement. “By amending the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 1986, this commonsense proposal puts an end to the harassment of upstanding citizens who happen to stay overnight, fuel up, or stop for an emergency during their travels in another state.”
It’s about time we put an end to these ridiculous out-of-state gun-owner witch hunts.
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