[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4013 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4013

To enforce the rights protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments 
                          against the States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Constitutional Carry Act''.

SEC. 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''.

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:
``Sec. 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.''.
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