I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 645 
To enforce the rights protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments 
against the States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 23, 2025 
Mr. MASSIE (for himself, Ms. BOEBERT, Mr. BIGGS of Arizona, Mr. 
BRECHEEN, Mr. BURCHETT, Mr. BURLISON, Mr. CLINE, Mr. CLOUD, 
Mr. COLLINS, Mr. CRANE, Mr. GOSAR, Ms. GREENE of Georgia, Mr. 
HARRIS of Maryland, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. LANGWORTHY, Mrs. 
LUNA, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. MOORE of Alabama, Mr. MORAN, Mr. 
OGLES, Mr. ROSE, Mr. ROY, Mr. SELF, Mrs. SPARTZ, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. 
TIFFANY, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. WIED, Mr. GILL of Texas, and Mr. 
HARRIGAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To enforce the rights protected by the Second and 
Fourteenth Amendments against the States. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Constitu-
tional Carry Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Recognizing the preexisting right to self-de-
fense, the Second Amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States guarantees individually to Amer-
ican citizens the right ‘‘to keep and bear arms’’, in-
cluding the right to bear arms in public. 
(2) The Second Amendment decrees that these 
rights to keep and bear arms ‘‘shall not be in-
fringed’’, and was enumerated in order to preserve 
‘‘the security of a free State’’. 
(3) In District of Columbia v. Heller (554 U.S. 
570, 595 (2008)), the Supreme Court confirmed 
that ‘‘[t]here seems to us no doubt, on the basis of 
both text and history, that the Second Amendment 
conferred an individual right to keep and bear 
arms’’. 
(4) In McDonald v. City of Chicago (561 U.S. 
742, 791 (2010)), the Supreme Court ruled that the 
Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amend-
ment fully applicable to the States. Four Justices 
concluded that the rights protected by the Second 
Amendment are fundamental to the Nation’s scheme 
of ordered liberty and deeply rooted in this Nation’s 
‘‘history and tradition’’, and therefore incorporated 
to the States through the Due Process Clause of the 
Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Thomas agreed 
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that the rights protected by the Second Amendment 
are both ‘‘fundamental’’ and ‘‘deeply rooted’’ and, as 
such, are enforceable against the States under the 
Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges and Immunities 
Clause. 
(5) Recently, the Supreme Court acknowledged 
in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen 
(142 S. Ct. 2111, 2156 (2022)), that the Second 
and Fourteenth Amendments protect the individual 
right to carry arms outside the home for self-de-
fense. Further, the Court reiterated that the Second 
Amendment’s otherwise ‘‘unqualified command’’ only 
accommodates laws that are ‘‘consistent with this 
Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation’’ 
(Id. at 2126). 
(6) Certain States and localities have enacted 
gun control laws that are not consistent with the 
text of the Second Amendment or this Nation’s his-
torical tradition of firearm regulation. The criminal-
ization of peaceable, public firearms carry is repug-
nant to the original meaning of the Second Amend-
ment. 
(7) Any State or local restriction on the right 
of American citizens to keep and bear arms impairs 
the ability of the Second Amendment to achieve its 
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textually specified purpose, ‘‘the security of a free 
State’’. 
SEC. 3. THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 927 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 927. The right to keep and bear arms 
‘‘(a) No State or political subdivision of a State may 
impose a criminal or civil penalty on, or otherwise indi-
rectly limit the carrying of firearms (including by imposing 
a financial or other barrier to entry) in public by residents 
or nonresidents of that State who are citizens of the 
United States and otherwise eligible to possess firearms 
under State and Federal law. 
‘‘(b) Any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or 
usage of a State or a political subdivision of a State that 
criminalizes, penalizes, or otherwise indirectly dissuades 
the carrying of firearms (including by imposing a financial 
or other barrier to entry) in public by any resident or non-
resident who is a United States citizen and otherwise eligi-
ble to possess firearms under State and Federal law, shall 
have no force or effect. 
‘‘(c) The term ‘State’ as used in this section includes 
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, and the possessions of the United States (not includ-
ing the Canal Zone). 
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‘‘(d) The term ‘public’ as used in this section— 
‘‘(1) includes any place held open to the public, 
regardless of ownership, but in the case of a pri-
vately-owned location held open to the public, does 
not include a place where the owner communicates 
clearly and conspicuously a prohibition of firearms 
on the premises; and 
‘‘(2) does not include a place where screening 
for firearms is conducted under State law.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for such chapter is amended by striking the item relating 
to section 927 and inserting the following: 
‘‘927. The right to keep and bear arms.’’. 
Æ 
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