President Donald Trump signaled support for federal concealed-carry legislation Tuesday, telling supporters at a Mack Trucks facility in Macungie, Pennsylvania that his administration is actively pursuing a national right-to-carry measure — a declaration that energized Second Amendment advocates who have long sought to standardize gun-carry laws across state lines.
Why It Matters
Federal legislation of this kind would represent one of the most significant expansions of gun rights in decades. If enacted, a national constitutional carry law would override a patchwork of state and local permit requirements, effectively allowing eligible Americans to carry firearms in public without obtaining government permission — regardless of which state they are in.
The announcement carries particular weight in Pennsylvania, a state that does not currently have constitutional carry and where the gun rights debate remains politically charged.
What Happened
Speaking before NRA President Bill Bachenberg and a crowd of supporters, Trump credited himself with protecting the Second Amendment and claimed the NRA has backed him since the beginning of his political career. When asked about national right-to-carry legislation, Trump replied simply, “Yeah, we’re working on it.”
The remark elevates a bill that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced more than three months ago. Known as the National Constitutional Carry Act, the measure would eliminate concealed-carry permit requirements nationwide for Americans who are legally allowed to possess firearms. It would bar states and local governments from enforcing licensing requirements, charging fees, or imposing criminal penalties on lawful public carry.
The legislation is not without guardrails. It preserves existing restrictions on firearms in secured locations and on private property, and it maintains the federal prohibition on carry by individuals who are barred from possessing firearms under existing law.
Lee has framed the legislation in constitutional terms, arguing that “the Founders established a national right to keep and bear arms, not to ask for permission from hostile local officials or risk imprisonment for crossing the wrong state line.”
By the Numbers
29 states currently allow some form of constitutional carry — meaning a majority of U.S. states have already eliminated or significantly reduced permit requirements for carrying a firearm in public.
That leaves 21 states, including Pennsylvania, that still impose some form of licensing or permitting requirement for public carry.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced a similar measure in the House in 2024, but that bill did not advance to a floor vote or become law. Lee’s Senate version was introduced in March, predating Trump’s Tuesday remarks by several months.
Zoom Out
The push for national constitutional carry legislation reflects a broader conservative legal and political strategy that has gained momentum following the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which struck down New York’s restrictive concealed-carry permitting regime and reset the constitutional framework for evaluating gun regulations.
Since that ruling, several states have moved to adopt constitutional carry or have had permit restrictions struck down in federal court. Proponents of the national legislation argue that the current system, in which gun owners can face criminal charges simply by crossing state lines, is constitutionally untenable and practically unworkable for law-abiding citizens.
Opponents contend that eliminating state permitting authority removes a key public safety screening mechanism and undermines states’ rights to set their own firearm regulations.
What’s Next
Trump’s public endorsement of the effort is likely to accelerate Senate consideration of Lee’s bill, though a floor vote timeline has not been announced. The measure would also require passage in the House, where Massie’s prior bill failed to gain sufficient traction.
Advocacy groups on both sides of the gun debate are expected to intensify lobbying efforts following Tuesday’s remarks. The White House has not yet released a formal legislative agenda or timeline for advancing the bill.
Pennsylvania remains a closely watched state on gun policy, given its mix of urban and rural communities with divergent views on firearms regulation. For more on policy debates affecting the state, see coverage of how an April freeze left central Pennsylvania fruit farmers facing hundreds of millions in crop losses — another policy and economic issue with significant regional impact.