S. 4013

119 S4013 IS: National Constitutional Carry Act
 U.S. Senate
 2026-03-05
 text/xml
 EN
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 II  119th CONGRESS  2d Session  S. 4013  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   March 5, 2026   Mr. Lee  introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the  Committee on the Judiciary    A BILL
To enforce the rights protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments against the States.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   National Constitutional Carry Act  .
2.
Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1)
Recognizing the preexisting right to self-defense, the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees individually to United States citizens the right  to keep and bear arms , including the right to bear arms in public.
(2)
The Second Amendment decrees that these rights to keep and bear arms  shall not be infringed , 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 of the United States 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 to the Constitution of the United States makes the Second Amendment 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 the Nation’s  history and tradition , and therefore incorporated to the States through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Clarence Thomas agreed that the rights protected by the Second Amendment are both  fundamental  and  deeply rooted  and, as such, are enforceable against the States under the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
(5)
Recently, the Supreme Court acknowledged in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association 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-defense. 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 historical tradition of firearm regulation. The criminalization of peaceable, public firearms carry is repugnant to the original meaning of the Second Amendment.
(7)
Any State or local restriction on the right of United States citizens to keep and bear arms impairs the ability of the Second Amendment to achieve its textually specified purpose,  the security of a free State .
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)
Prohibition on limiting the carrying of firearms in public
No State or political subdivision of a State may impose a criminal or civil penalty on, or otherwise indirectly 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)
Invalidity of certain State and local laws
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 nonresident who is a citizen of the United States and otherwise eligible to possess firearms under State and Federal law, shall have no force or effect.
(c)
Definitions
For purposes of this section:
(1)
Firearm
Notwithstanding section 921, the term  firearm  includes—
(A)
any firearm, as defined in section 921(a)(3);
(B)
any ammunition feeding device for use in a firearm, as defined in section 921(a)(3); and
(C)
any ammunition, as defined in section 921(a)(17)(A).
(2)
Public
The term  public —
(A)
includes any place held open to the public, regardless of ownership, but in the case of a privately 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
(B)
does not include a place where screening for firearms is conducted under State law.
(3)
State
The term  State  includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the possessions of the United States (not including the Canal Zone).
 .
(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.
  .