THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

And their ultimate goal is to insure that every white child is born with a silver concealed carry permit in his/her hand. And a lifetime supply of scary black person targets to practice on.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has been castigated on the eve of its annual meeting over a renewed push to get conceal-carry permits accepted across state lines, with billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg’s newly formed anti-gun group slamming the move as a push towards the “lowest common denominator.”

Concealed weapon permits are already legal in all 50 states, and the NRA's focus is less about enacting additional state protections than on making sure the permits already issued still apply when the gun owners cross the country. But opponents fear the measure would allow more lenient gun regulations to trump stricter ones when permit holders travel across state lines.

"The standards for who can carry in one state versus another vary greatly — as they should given that carrying in Utah is a very different thing than carrying in a densely populated city," Lizzie Ulmer, a spokeswoman for former New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety group, told Al Jazeera. "We believe that each state should set its own standards and that this legislation would undermine those laws."

But the NRA, which officially opens its meeting of about 70,000 people Friday in Indianapolis, wants Congress to require that concealed weapons permits issued in one state be recognized everywhere, even when the local requirements differ.

"Like the vast majority of gun owners, we know that respecting Second Amendment rights goes hand in hand with reasonable gun laws — and this... just doesn't make any sense," Ulmer said.

"It's a race to the bottom," said Brian Malte, senior national policy director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "It's taking the lowest standards."

An Associated Press-GfK poll in December found 52 percent of Americans favored stricter gun laws, 31 percent wanted them left as they are and 15 percent said they should be loosened.

The NRA and their congressional running dogs must be secure in their hold on Congress if they are willing to allow a national standard for gun law. No matter how flimsy it is, even the Dread Chief Justice Roberts would admit that it is a precedent.