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Gun Reports - News

Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry

Could President Perry Carry?

(GunReports.com) -- Chris Moody, writing at The Ticket blog, is a little insufferable in his language, but he raises an interesting situation:

"When Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry goes for a jog in Texas, the governor doesn't just throw on a pair of gym shorts and tennis shoes before dashing out the door. He also packs a concealed .380 Ruger loaded with deadly hollow-point bullets, fully equipped with a laser-sight for precise killing. (What, you don't?)"

He says he keeps it on him in case of an attack from wild animals. Last year, the Texas governor sent a coyote to canine heaven with a single shot while he was exercising in Austin, claiming it had threatened his dog.

But if he were elected president, could Perry hypothetically continue to pack heat on his morning run? You're damn right he could.

The Ticket asked several constitutional scholars and presidential experts if a sitting president would be allowed to carry a gun if he wanted to, even if it meant breaking local law. Since the White House is located in Washington, D.C.--a city that bans carrying firearms--the answer isn't perfectly simple. As presidential scholar Kenneth R. Mayer of the University of Wisconsin put it, the legal questions would get "big, fat, and hairy in a hurry."

The short answer is that if the president really wanted to run around Lafayette Park with a revolver strapped to his leg, the legal barriers would be easily surmountable.

In 2008, the Supreme Court struck down a decades-old D.C, law that banned gun ownership in the District of Columbia, but it is still illegal to carry a gun around the city. That second part doesn't sit well with Perry, who considers owning a gun a "fundamental right" enshrined in the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

"We Texans like our guns," Perry writes in his book, "Fed Up!". "We don't like meddlesome statists who want to infringe on our right to keep and bear them."

Like it or not, the president would be breaking local law by carrying his gun in the city, but there are several ways he could get around it if he wanted to.

Read the rest of the blog here.

Read a better treatment of the question by Dave Kopel here, and come back to GunReports.com to comment.

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Reader Comments

I am offended and annoyed by the descriptive but incorrect language used in the opening paragraph. "deadly hollow point bullets" and "a laser sight for precise killing." How absurd and idiotic! Yet, this is the kind of rhetoric those anti-gun "journalists" peddle to the ignorant reader. One should not comment on any subject of which he is ignorant...

Comment by: Muleman | September 15, 2011

a .380 with a sight radius of what..... 3 inches.... and you're going to hold that laser ON TARGET at 25 yards away. I doubt it! I hope he has practiced an awful lot, I found it virtually impossible to get a laser dot on target at 25 yards but I could get good old iron sights there in a heart beat.

Comment by: Cava3r4 | September 15, 2011

Reagan Carried.

Comment by: Mister E | September 15, 2011

In response to "What, you don't?" Actually, I carry a .45ACP. If I am awake, it is on my person, period.

Comment by: ajwrangler | September 15, 2011

The source who said that the President could sign an executive order allowing him to carry concealed in D.C. is wrong. An executive order is merely an instruction to the executive branch on how to carry out a law, rule or regulation. Its purpose is not to create a new law. Unless the President is signing an executive order pursuant to an existing law which allows concealed carry, he would be writing a new law. Writing new laws is the province of the legislature.

Comment by: jgranos | September 15, 2011

Once upon a time, in another life as a resident of Virginia, I often found myself in and around Washington, DC. I was an Army officer on active duty who frequently had duties in the Pentagon. I usually always carried a small pistol, concealed in such a way as to avoid any indication of my armament. I am glad that I never had to employ the piece, but I was equipped to do so if it had been necessary. I was not alone in my practice of armed conduct. Several other officers did the same.

My point, here, is this: There was never any trouble concerning our concealed carry in the enclave of hoplophobic Washington. That said I'd bet that there are still several concealed carriers moving about in the Nation's capital.

Comment by: canovack | September 15, 2011

"...but there are several ways he could get around it if he wanted to." Anybody remember an old early 70's movie "The Groove Tube"? "I can do whatever I want, 'cause I'm the #@%&ing PRESIDENT!" That has proven to be prophetic in consideration of the last 3 presidencies.

Comment by: CHUCK S | September 15, 2011

Well, the POTUS does pretty much do what he wants to without consequences. Bush broke FISA law thousands of times and has yet to be charged. Obama has continued the practice. There's that felony thing about 'lying to Congress' too.

What will be interesting is to see what Perry does when he takes his campaign to Illinois, and in particular to Chicago. I think having the cops shake him down for a weapon (whether he has it or not) would make for some pretty good national debate on the subject. Of course, he's not likely to do that on the campaign trail - but it would be weeks before you heard anyone else's name again....

Comment by: david b | September 15, 2011

Deadly .380 hollow points? A 200 foot pound rd. at best at the muzzle. I usually advise carrying FMJ in a .380 since the tolerances are so much tighter in weapons of that size and feeding concerns are certainly more pressing than over-penetration!

Comment by: Thomas J. Morris III | September 15, 2011

Jgranos, may I forward your post to the Whitehouse? I don't think they got the memo.

DavidB, why would Perry waste time and money going to Chicago?

Comment by: quiet man | September 15, 2011

I would be embarrassed if a guntoting president carried a wimpy 380. My president would carry a 1911, Sig 220, or SW 357 revolver 2.5 inch for light or back up carry.

Comment by: HEROBUDDY | September 15, 2011

As POTUS Perry would carry whatever arm the Bilderberger Group TOLD him to carry or carry nothing at all if they told him not to. He was "tapped" by that group when he received an invitation to and attended a Bilderberger meeting in 2007. Obama (probably) attended attended the 2008 meeting along with Hillary Clinton; maybe we now know who's pulling Obama's strings.

Comment by: BigIron | September 15, 2011

BigIron,

If anyone is pulling O's strings they have gotten them VERY tangled. Open faced spinner backlash tangled.

Comment by: quiet man | September 15, 2011

Wow, thanks for the lesson plan Thomas. None of us know ballistics here.

Comment by: Myk9noseKnows | September 24, 2011

No need for further speculation on a "President Perry.". Looks like ol' Slick Rick ain't gonna' make it. His campaign is pretty much "Texas Toast."

Comment by: RackEmPunk | September 26, 2011