The Gun Rights Absolutists Bringing Constitutional Carry to a State Near You

The crusade for concealed guns in public with no permits began at a diner in Arizona. Now it's going national—with or without the NRA.


No-compromise gun activists are building momentum for state laws that allow firearms owners to bring their weapons into public spaces without securing the government permits or completing the proficiency training now required in most parts of the country.

Their efforts, which have already led to new laws and legislative proposals across a quarter of the United States, is wrapped in the language of high ideals: Advocates call their preferred policy “constitutional carry,” the idea being that the only authorization they need to take their guns wherever they please was extended by the Founding Fathers themselves.

The crusade seems to have begun around a table at a 1950s-themed greasy spoon in Arizona, where four frustrated gun advocates hatched a plan between bites of barbecue.

“We decided that the Constitution means what it says,” said Charles Heller, one of the men gathered around the table at the 5 & Diner that summer day.

https://www.thetrace.org/2017/02/constitutional-carry-gun-rights-absolutists/