FIRST ON FOX: Native Americans living on tribal land would have an easier time buying firearms under a new bipartisan bill introduced in the House on Wednesday.
Small Business Caucus Chairman Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., is reviving his effort from the previous Congress to expand the language on identification requirements for gun purchases. Under current regulations, tribal IDs are not recognized as a permissible form of identification for those purchases, even though they include most of the same information as a DMV-issued driver’s license.
Johnson and Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, the first Alaskan Native elected to Congress, are jointly sponsoring the legislation.
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Johnson told Fox News Digital that while even non-U.S. passports are allowed to be used as valid identification to buy a firearm, IDs used by people living in areas designated by the Federally Recognized 19 Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 are not.
“Classifying tribal IDs as an invalid form of identification for the purchase of firearms limits tribal sovereignty and tribal members’ ability to obtain a firearm,” Johnson said. “A foreign passport is accepted as a valid form of identification – a tribal ID should be no different. My bill corrects this oversight, ensuring Second Amendment rights for tribal members.”
Peltola said “firearms are an essential tool for subsistence and self-defense alike” in her state, the vast majority of which is rural and undeveloped terrain.
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“Tribal identification cards are already valid for a variety of uses, including boarding planes and accessing federal buildings and banks across the nation. This bill would extend this parity to include the Second Amendment rights of Tribal members. It is past time that Tribal sovereignty is recognized in this regard, and I look forward to working with Rep. Johnson on this essential legislation,” Peltola said.
The bill was lauded by the leader of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, as well as pro-Second Amendment groups like Gun Owners of America and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., who also has Native American roots in his family tree, is introducing a counterpart bill in the Senate.
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Mullin said that residents of tribal lands, like all law-abiding Americans, “have a fundamental right to keep and bear arms.”
“For too long, a lapse in existing law has prohibited Tribal members from using their government-issued Tribal identification to lawfully obtain firearms. Our commonsense legislation corrects this unconstitutional infringement,” the senator said.
The bill will likely pass the GOP-controlled House if brought for a vote, but its future is uncertain in the Senate, where the Democratic majority has been wary of passing firearm legislation that expands access to guns.