The right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right that must be protected from executive overreach and from those who would impose limits on the types of arms law abiding citizens are allowed to possess.
Protect the Second Amendment from executive overreach and restrictions on law-abiding citizens' access to firearms.
Occurrences
Evidence
"Palmer Condemns Obama's Executive Orders on Firearms" ... "U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL), a gun owner and a supporter of the Second Amendment, condemned President Obama's executive orders concerning firearms as being both beyond the scope of his Constitutional power and ineffective at stopping gun violence."
Roll Call 663 on H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, shows "Palmer | Republican | Alabama | Aye" and the vote passed the House.
The press release says the House passed H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, and that Congressman Gary Palmer "released the following statement after voting in favor of the bill."
Palmer's 2016 campaign issue page said the right to keep and bear arms must be protected from executive overreach and from limits on the types of arms law-abiding citizens may possess.
The House clerk's roll call shows Palmer voted Aye on final passage of H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which passed the House 231-198.
Palmer's office said he voted in favor of H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, and framed the vote as defending Second Amendment rights.
Palmer's House issue page says he opposed President Obama's firearms executive actions as beyond constitutional power and ineffective at stopping gun violence.
The office's current issues page still lists a Second Amendment section, indicating the topic remains part of Palmer's active public positions in later federal service.
The House roll call for H.R. 38 shows Palmer voted Aye, and the bill passed the House 231-198 on December 6, 2017.
Palmer’s House issue page says he condemned President Obama’s firearms executive orders as beyond constitutional power and ineffective at stopping gun violence.
Palmer's House issue page said he condemned President Obama's firearms executive orders as beyond constitutional power and ineffective at stopping gun violence.
Assessments
Palmer clearly acted on the promise in his first House term by publicly opposing Obama-era firearms executive actions and voting for H.R. 38, a House-passed concealed-carry reciprocity bill framed as defending Second Amendment rights. That shows meaningful same-term effort to resist executive overreach and expand protections for lawful gun owners. But the record here does not show that these efforts produced a completed federal policy outcome or that the broader promise was fully delivered, so full credit is not justified.
Palmer explicitly pledged to oppose executive overreach and limits on lawful firearm ownership and consistently acted on that pledge in office. He publicly condemned Obama-era firearms executive orders as unconstitutional and repeatedly framed votes as defending the Second Amendment. He voted Aye on H.R.38 (Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act) which passed the House on December 6, 2017, demonstrating concrete legislative action to expand lawful access. However, H.R.38 did not become law (failing to clear the Senate), and there is no evidence Palmer achieved comprehensive prevention of executive actions or nationwide relief beyond House-level measures. Continued issue-page statements show the position remained active but do not constitute full policy delivery. Because he advanced the pledge through votes and public opposition but did not secure enactment of overarching protections, the claim is partially fulfilled.
Palmer made the promised Second Amendment position an active part of his federal House work after the 2016 campaign: he publicly opposed Obama-era firearms executive actions as executive overreach and voted for H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which passed the House. Those actions materially advanced the promise within the same congressional term. However, the evidence does not show a completed federal outcome fully protecting firearm access or reversing/limiting executive restrictions; H.R. 38 did not become enacted law based on the record provided, and public opposition alone is not full delivery of the promised policy result. This supports partial credit with an effort badge rather than full delivery.