President Trump Says Administration Working on National Right-to-Carry Legislation

President Donald Trump said June 23 that his administration is working on national right-to-carry legislation. " Newsweek reported that the proposal aligns with the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (H.R. 38), which has advanced through committee but still requires approval by both chambers of Congress and the president.

The bill would require states to recognize firearm carry rights from other states, though it would leave in place local rules on locations such as schools or federal buildings and federal prohibitions on felons possessing firearms. As of 2026, 29 states allow permitless or constitutional carry, according to the U.S. Concealed Carry Association.

A 2025 report by the Crime Prevention Research Center found roughly 20.9 million concealed carry permit holders, or about 7.8 percent of the adult population, and estimated that 46.8 percent of Americans live in jurisdictions with constitutional carry.

Permit numbers peaked near 22 million in 2022. NRA Executive Vice President Doug Hamlin wrote in a June 23 letter to the Washington Post editor that the organization remains "on firm financial footing" and that gun rights in the United States are "strong," citing the expansion of permitless carry and recent Supreme Court decisions.

Since the 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision, federal courts have issued more than 3,000 rulings citing the case, striking down some waiting-period laws and public-carry limits while upholding restrictions in sensitive places and those tied to domestic-violence orders. Newsweek contacted the White House, the U.S.

Department of Justice, the NRA, and Giffords on Wednesday morning seeking clarification on the proposal. Dr. Iain Overton, executive director of Action on Armed Violence, told Newsweek the measure would likely increase firearms carried in public and limit states’ ability to enforce their own standards.

Peter Squires, emeritus professor of criminology at the University of Brighton, said any national reciprocity law would likely face legal challenge. Permits from Florida or Utah are recognized in more than 30 states, while those from California or New York are valid in far fewer jurisdictions. Strict gun-law states include California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Hawaii, and Massachusetts.