The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre says the gun control lobby’s vow to dismantle the 2nd Amendment has ‘backfired’. That’s because 2023 was a momentous year for permitless carry gun laws, with the U.S. officially becoming a constitutional carry-majority nation this spring.
“The gun control lobby and their allies pledged to dismantle self-defense laws and the Second Amendment. That strategy has backfired. In 2021, there were 16 states with NRA Constitutional Carry. Just three years later, there are 27 states. Americans in 11 states stood with freedom and the NRA,” NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre exclusively told Fox News Digital.
Constitutional carry laws allow legal residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit, effectively eliminating the need for qualifying residents to ask the government for permission to carry.
Last year closed with 25 states passing permitless carry laws, with Georgia’s new law taking effect at the start of 2023. Florida had the honor of officially tipping America as a constitutional carry-majority nation in March, when the state Senate approved the bill and sent it to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for his signature.
“Constitutional Carry is in the books,” DeSantis said in April when he signed the NRA-backed law, which took effect in July.
Florida was soon followed by Nebraska, where Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed his state’s version into law.
“Signing this bill upholds the promise I made to voters to protect our constitutional rights and promote commonsense, conservative values,” Pillen told Fox News Digital at the time. “I appreciate the hard work of those senators who supported this legislation, and particularly that of Sen. Brewer who led this charge and carried it through to the end.”
That NRA-backed law took effect in September.
Full list of states
The full list of states with constitutional carry laws includes: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Obtaining a concealed carry permit in the 23 states where there are no constitutional carry laws can be an expensive endeavor, but by eliminating those heavy costs, more people would carry including minorities and people in lower income zip codes.
LaPierre continued in his statement that the NRA will continue championing constitutional carry legislation until it is the “law of the land.”