When Doug Jones (D) defeated Roy Moore (R) for U.S. Senate in Alabama, one thing was immediately evident — the window of time for passing national reciprocity just got smaller.

Reciprocity legislation was introduced in the House on January 3, 2017, but was not passed until December 6 after conservative representatives finally overcame Speaker Paul Ryan’s months of stonewalling.

National reciprocity now rests with the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been no more enthusiastic about it than Ryan was in the House. In fact, on August 13, 2017, Breitbart News reported that McConnell was mum on national reciprocity.

In other words, instead of seizing the momentum of a Republican-controlled Senate to pass the pro-Second Amendment legislation, McConnell dithered. He dithered so long that we are nearing the end of the year and, with Jones’s win, nearing the end of a 52-seat majority.

What makes this worse is the reality that there are eight red-state Senate Democrats who may have difficulty winning re-election in November 2018 if they vote against reciprocity. They are Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Jon Tester (D-MT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Bill Nelson (D-FL). Yet instead of exploiting the tedious position of these Senate Democrats by hastening a vote, McConnell has done nothing.

National reciprocity passed the House and President Donald Trump voiced support for it over two years ago. That means, it is up to the Senate to get it done.

Senate Republicans have a 52-seat majority for two more weeks. That means it is up to McConnell to get it done quickly, forcing red-state Senate Democrats to come out of the shadows and vote up or down for the people’s right to keep and bear arms.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.