Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2025
Key claim: The bill would let a person who may legally possess a firearm and who has a valid state concealed-carry permit (or is eligible to carry in their home state) carry a concealed handgun in any other state that allows its own residents to carry concealed.
Abstract
(S65 · 119th Congress)
Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2025 This bill allows a qualified individual to carry a concealed handgun into or possess a concealed handgun in another state that allows its residents to carry concealed firearms. A qualified individual must (1) be eligible to possess, transport, or receive a firearm under federal law; (2) carry a valid photo identification document; and (3) carry a valid state-issued concealed carry permit, or be eligible to carry a concealed firearm in his or her state of residence.
Latest action (2025-01-09): Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Why this matters
Concealed-carry reciprocity would practically expand where permit holders (and, in some versions, residents of permitless-carry states) may carry across state lines, effectively overriding stricter state licensing standards for visitors while leaving each state’s rules for its own residents intact. For affected groups this cuts two ways: gun owners gain predictability when traveling, while states and localities with more restrictive permit criteria—often urban jurisdictions and domestic-violence or mental-health screening regimes—would see their standards bypassed for non-residents, a contested federalism and public-safety tradeoff that has recurred across multiple Congresses without enactment.