Mike Lee Introduces National Constitutional Carry Act in U.S. Senate

Utah Sen. Mike Lee has unveiled a new bill that would allow individuals who can lawfully possess a firearm to carry a handgun in all 50 states, without the need for a state-issued permission slip. 

Lee’s National Constitutional Carry Act would be a huge change to federal law, which at the moment leaves the right to carry and regulations around that right entirely up to the states. 

“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,” Lee said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Many states already protect the right to carry without a permit, and it’s time to reaffirm this right for all law-abiding Americans,” he continued. “The National Constitutional Carry Act will establish nationwide permitless carry to keep America safe and her people free.”

Currently, 29 states allow some form of constitutional carry, meaning residents can carry a concealed firearm without a permit.

Lee’s legislation, which he plans to introduce Thursday, would eliminate concealed carry permit requirements nationwide for eligible U.S. citizens — those already legally allowed to own a firearm.

In addition to negating the need for state-issued concealed carry licenses in the 21 states where permitless carry is not yet in effect, Lee’s bill would also severely limit states’ ability to establish “gun-free zones.” 

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 citizen of the United States and otherwise eligible to possess firearms under State and Federal law, shall have no force or effect. 

In Lee’s bill, “public” is defined as, “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.” 

Lee’s bill also states that a public setting does not include “a place where screening for firearms is conducted under State law.” 

In other words, if a state wants to declare something a “gun-free zone,” lawmakers would have to ensure that there is law enforcement present to screen individuals for firearms instead of just slapping a “sensitive place” label on particular settings like parks, beaches, and within 100 feet of a polling place or public demonstration. 

🚨BREAKING🚨

Sen. @BasedMikeLee just introduced the GOA-backed National Constitutional Carry Act.

This builds on @RepThomasMassie‘s nationwide permitless carry bill by also protecting any firearm, any magazine, & any ammunition you want to carry. pic.twitter.com/Jx4XilB0M9

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) March 5, 2026

REAL Constitutional Carry NATIONWIDE!

No permits, no fees, no permission slips!
Sea to shining sea! https://t.co/OPlWbST0BN pic.twitter.com/6iMVpoGL1t

— National Association for Gun Rights (@gunrights) March 5, 2026

This is exactly what our carry laws should look like, but that doesn’t mean that Lee’s bill stands a snowball’s chance in Florida of making it through the Senate this year. With Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin departing the chamber to head up DHS, Republicans will be down one member of their caucus until Gov. Kevin Stitt names someone to fill the rest of Mullin’s term. Even at full strength, though, Republicans don’t have the votes to pass Lee’s bill so long as it takes 60 votes to invoke cloture. 

And at the moment, I don’t think this could pass the House either. HR 38, authored by North Carolina congressman Richard Hudson and better known as the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2025, has been ready for a floor vote in the House since last October, but Speaker Mike Johnson has never brought up the issue. The legislation has 189 co-sponsors, but it takes 217 votes to pass the House, and the GOP can only afford to lose one vote in their caucus. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who’s already been endorsed by at least one gun control group, would never go along with HR 38 or Lee’s Senate bill, and I suspect there are others like Ohio’s David Joyce and Florida’s Maria Salazar who would vote against both bills if they had the opportunity to do so. 

Lee’s bill is important, but for now it’s also aspirational. If Second Amendment supporters want to make it a reality we have to work to not only elect more likeminded senators and representatives, but to educate the American public on the importance of our Second Amendment rights and why its necessary to scrap its status as the red-headed stepchild of the Constitution. In my opinion that’s the work of years, not months, but there’s no reason why we can’t get started today. 

Editor’s Note: Republicans across the country are working to expand and secure our Second Amendment rights. 

Help us continue to report on and support those efforts. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership today.