A gun-rights advocate says he's optimistic that a firearms bill honoring concealed carry permits will be signed by President-elect Donald Trump.





Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina) introduced H.R. 38 to grant national reciprocity for Americans who can carry concealed firearms in their home states.

Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America says the bill treats such permits much like a driver's license.

"Just like your driver's license, if you have a driver's license in your state of residence," he explains, "you don't have to get 49 other driver's licenses. And yet that is almost how bad it is with concealed carry."

The bill's defenders say it would ensure that victims of crime, such as concealed carry holder Shaneen Allen, do not face imprisonment for action legal in their home state.

Allen, who held a permit from Pennsylvania after being robbed, was pulled over for a traffic violation in New Jersey in 2014. New Jersey has strict gun laws that resulted in a three-year felony conviction for the firearm.

She was later pardoned by Gov. Chris Christie.

The bill would also cut through a legal labyrinth in which 50 different sets of laws are on the books, Pratt and other gun rights advocates argue.

Pratt says the Hudson bill also benefits citizens of anti-gun states who get permits from pro-gun states.

If a gun owner living in California, New Jersey, or New York gets a carry permit from Utah, then he or she will be able to carry a firearm in any state in the country.

"It's been in the Congress now for several years," Pratt says of the legislation, "and we think that with a president who has actually expressed support for the concept that this could become the year it becomes law."