House passes the "Armed Knighthood Restoration Act"

The House of Representatives today overwhelmingly passed H.R. 218, legislation that would allow qualified off-duty and retired law enforcement officers to carry their firearms concealed in all 50 states.

Originally drafted by Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA) Executive Director Jim Fotis in 1992, the 'National Concealed Carry for Cops' legislation has been a 12-year fight that has been embraced by nearly every association representing rank and file police officers and a significant bipartisan majority in the House and Senate.

Normally, I'm a fan of concealed carry. But this particular bill sticks in my craw, because it's not concealed carry for the people who really need it; it's concealed carry for cops only. It reinforces the special status of police officers as "knights", granted the right to carry arms where the "peasants" are denied that right. I don't have any gripe with cops carrying concealed firearms nationally, so long as ordinary citizens can do the same under similar terms. At a minimum, that means people who go to the trouble to get a concealed carry permit their state of residence should be able to carry in any state.

But this bill won't provide for anything but an armed knighthood. And that's one of the old European ideas we held a revolution to get rid of. Since it's passed the House, we need to oppose it in the Senate.