Harrigan Bill Gives Special Operators Nationwide Carry Rights

Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-NC), a former Army Special Forces officer, has introduced the Special Operations Forces Concealed Carry Act — a bill that extends concealed carry rights to America's most elite warriors, both active-duty and honorably discharged, regardless of what state they call home.

The legislation defines a "qualified special operator" as any active-duty or honorably discharged servicemember at paygrade E5 through E9, W1 through W5, or O1 through O10. That covers Special Forces, Delta Force, Navy SEALs, Marine Raiders, Combat Controllers, and more — the tip of America's spear.

The injustice is straightforward: a retired Delta Force sergeant who spent two decades neutralizing the world's most dangerous enemies can be denied the right to carry a firearm for self-defense simply because he retired in California or New York. That is not freedom. That is bureaucratic insanity.

Harrigan's bill mirrors the existing Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act — the federal statute that lets off-duty and retired law enforcement officers carry nationwide — and applies the same common-sense logic to special operators. If we trust these men and women with the most sophisticated weapons on earth downrange, we can trust them with a sidearm at the grocery store.

Anti-gun politicians and their Bloomberg-funded allies have spent years building a patchwork of state-level carry restrictions designed to trap law-abiding gun owners in red tape. Veterans who answered the call now navigate that same hostile maze. Harrigan's bill cuts through it.

This is exactly the pro-Second Amendment legislation Congress should be passing — no carve-outs for the gun-control lobby, no deference to states that treat the Second Amendment as optional. A clean expansion of rights for the warriors who earned them.

Contact your representative today and demand they co-sponsor the Special Operations Forces Concealed Carry Act. America's special operators protected your rights. Return the favor.