Our friends at the Virginia Citizens Defense League recently put out an alert letting gun owners know exactly where the problem is with the national concealed carry reciprocity bill – with Democratic Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.*

The VCDL alert says “It appears to be a bad case of weakness of the knees. The Republicans were put into power to move forward an agenda that was sold to the American public. That includes national reciprocity and the hearing protection act, to name but a few. That was the deal, and the President said, and repeated, that he would sign such bills. We need to demand leadership from Ryan, not capitulation to the enemies of freedom.”

The alert goes on to quote an article by Breitbart’s AWR Hawkins saying, “National Reciprocity was introduced by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) on January 3, 2017 and Gun Owners of America reported that it had 199 co-sponsors by June 21, 2017. Yet Second Amendment supporters have seen no action on the bill from Ryan or Congressional leadership.”

The New York Times’ Emily Cochrane reported that three bills have been introduced in the Republican-held House during the past two weeks would allow lawmakers to almost always carry a concealed weapon. A fourth would allow concealed carry permits obtained in other states to be recognized in the District of Columbia. Still another would eliminate federal controls on suppressors.

Most of the legislation has been in development for months, and in some cases, years. But the shooting in Alexandria, Va., which left Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the majority whip, grievously injured and three others less seriously wounded, served as motivation for Republicans on both sides of the Capitol to move wrote Cochrane.

To Republican advocates, it is now personal. Several pointed to a list with the names of six members of Congress that was found in the possession of the gunman, James T. Hodgkinson.

“Have they ever been shot at, multiple times, at close range, trying to save someone without any way to defend yourself?” Representative Barry Loudermilk, who was on the field during the shooting, said of gun control advocates according to Cochrane.

“When you’ve experienced that yourself, maybe then we can have this debate,” said Mr. Loudermilk, Republican of Georgia, evoking some of the emotion often conveyed by victims of gun violence who come to Washington seeking gun safety laws.

The legislative push underlines a continuing partisan clash after highly publicized mass shootings, one in which national lawmakers tussle over gun regulation and rarely stray from party lines. Gun rights legislation after the baseball practice shooting received a lift: The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would require each state to honor another state’s concealed carry permits, reached 200 co-sponsors.

“I think what happened in Alexandria sharpened people’s resolve to make sure this right is protected,” said Representative Richard Hudson, Republican of North Carolina, who introduced the bill in January.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Mo Brooks (R-AL), and Barry Loudermilk (R-KY) emerged from the June 14 Alexandria attack with a sharp focus on concealed carry and the ability to have a gun on one’s person for self-defense regardless of the state (or district) through which one is traveling.

Second Amendment supporters hope Massie, Brooks, and Loudermilk can motivate Ryan to act on behalf of gun owners at a time like this; a time when Republicans control the House and Senate, and have a president who has already made clear he supports national reciprocity for concealed carry.

However, Politico reports, “Republicans in Washington keep promising rollbacks of gun control laws” but “so far haven’t taken action on any on it.”

This is no surprise to us, because, on agenda item after agenda item, on issue after issue Paul Ryan has emerged as the roadblock to governing America according to conservative principles.

We agree with our friends at the Virginia Citizens Defense League – except for one point: It isn’t weakness of the knees that has stalled national reciprocity, it is that Speaker Ryan is on the other side.

Click this link and scroll down to read about the Virginia Citizens Defense League national reciprocity campaign and how you can help.

*We now refer to Speaker Ryan as “Democratic” Speaker Paul Ryan because he relies on Democratic votes to pass anti-conservative legislation and has worked with Democrats to keep Obama era policies, such as transgenders in the military, operating on autopilot.