Representative Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), who introduced the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, told Freightwaves, a leading provider of trucking news to its members, that attacks and threats of attacks by rioters has awakened interest in his bill. On Friday he said, “Truck drivers are the backbone of our country and understand this issue more than most, as they drive alone with valuable merchandise across state lines every week. I will continue to fight to advance this bill in Congress and defend the rights of truck drivers and all law-abiding citizens.”
One of those drivers, Anthony McAfee, hauling for a subsidiary of Golden State Foods, had just finished making a delivery in Portland, Maine, on Monday night, June 1, when he found himself confronted by protesters. The report from the Portland Police Department was chilling: “A tractor-trailer truck that completed a delivery on Middle Street … just after 9:30pm … were [sic] being confronted by protestors.” When police arrived, they along with “the occupants of the truck started to be attacked.”
A spokesman for Golden State added, “Our driver did not drive a vehicle into a crowd.… He was lawfully proceeding down a street and quickly and suddenly became engulfed by a large group [estimated to be in the hundreds] of people participating in what appeared to be a moving protest.”
McAfee was not injured and was taken into custody by the police and later released.
But he could have been hurt, or worse. As Ronnie Sellers, a former owner of a small trucking company in Knoxville, Tennessee, told Freightways, “Just imagine what hundreds or thousands of rioters could to do a driver and his or her equipment in a matter of minutes.”
Without concealed-carry reciprocity, drivers are left with much less effective means of defending themselves, carrying cans of wasp spray that can shoot up to 20 feet to ward off attackers, tire irons (“thumpers”), hammers, and heavy-duty flashlights.
With renewed interest resulting from the riots, Hudson is hopeful to add to the 160 House members who have already co-sponsored his bill. An identical bill in the Senate has 38 co-sponsors. It will take 218 votes in the House and 51 votes in the Senate to move the bill to the president’s desk.
In its present form, the bill, HB 38, would require all states to recognize concealed-carry permits issued by other states and allow the transport of handguns across state lines without penalty. It would, if passed, benefit not only truckers hauling the nation’s goods, but everyone driving across the country who presently are being deprived of the opportunity to enjoy their Second Amendment-protected right to keep and bear arms and to use them, if necessary, to defend themselves and their families.
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American, writing primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].
