Hundreds of New State Gun Laws: Most Expand Access

Hundreds of New State Gun Laws: Most Expand Access; What Has Your State Done?

By Matt Vasilogambros, Stateline, Pew Charitable Trusts*

In the two weeks since the Florida school massacre, state lawmakers around the country have introduced bills to ban bump stocks, ban assault weapons, and expand background checks — and also to arm teachers, lighten penalties for carrying without a permit, and waive handgun permit fees.

If history foretells, the gun-rights bills will have a better chance at success. In the years since Sandy Hook, when 26 were slain in 2012, states have enacted nearly 600 new gun laws, according to data compiled separately by the National Rifle Association and the Giffords Law Center to Reduce Gun Violence.

Nearly two-thirds of those were backed by the NRA.

It is “indisputably true” that there have been far more new laws that loosen gun restrictions than tighten them, said Michael Hammond, the legislative counsel at Gun Owners of America, a Virginia-based “no compromise” gun lobbying organization. The way a state reacts to mass shootings depends on who controls its legislature, he said. And in the case of the states that expanded access to firearms, most were controlled by Republicans.

“If you are in favor of the Second Amendment, grow up with guns, are comfortable with guns, don’t want to see kids turned into sitting ducks, you’re more likely to say the solution is more guns,” Hammond said.

By the NRA’s count, governors since 2013 have enacted 382 “pro-gun” bills — many widely expanding access to firearms.

Governors in Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas and Texas, signed bills that would allow people with concealed carry licenses to bring guns onto college campuses, joining seven other states with similar laws.

New laws in at least five states — Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and West Virginia — allow gun owners to carry loaded firearms without a permit or training. So-called permitless carry laws now are in effect in more than 10 states.

After the latest massacre in Florida, Indiana lawmakers are close to making their state the next that allows people to carry guns on church grounds, even if there is a school on church property. Jack Sandlin, the Republican state senator who wrote the bill, said it’s “common sense” to want to pass this kind of legislation after mass shootings.

“People want to know how to protect themselves and protect their families,” Sandlin said. Before being elected to public office, he spent 35 years in law enforcement.

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Hundreds of New State Gun Laws: Most Expand Access; What Has Your State Done?

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