National reciprocity for concealed carry hinges on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) the day after conservatives overcame Speaker Paul Ryan’s months of stonewalling.

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) introduced national reciprocity on January 3 and Ryan ignored it for approximately 47 weeks. Breitbart News began reporting a tally as the bill languished, beginning with week 42.

But national reciprocity passed on December 6 by a vote of 231 to 198, now the onus is now on McConnell. He is a Senator for one of the most pro-gun states in the Union, Kentucky, and the Majority Leader for a nation wherein “73 percent” of Americans support national reciprocity.

So what will McConnell do?

In mid-August Breitbart News reported that McConnell was mum on national reciprocity. At that point, he was sharing in Speaker Ryan’s silence on the subject, saying nothing positive or negative about the American people’s opportunity to actually protect their right to self-defense by rolling back Second Amendment infringements on the right to bear arms. The time for silence has passed.

President Trump made clear his support for national reciprocity over two years ago, saying:

The right of self-defense doesn’t stop at the end of your driveway. That’s why I have a concealed carry permit and why tens of millions of Americans do too. That permit should be valid in all 50 states. A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state. If we can do that for driving – which is a privilege, not a right – then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege.S

So Trump supports reciprocity and the House passed reciprocity. This leaves only one more hurdle–the U.S. Senate, where Republicans have a majority and red state Democrats like Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) cannot risk an anti-gun vote if they want to win re-election in November 2018. In short, everything is properly aligned to recover our Second Amendment freedoms at this moment in time. All eyes are now on Majority Leader McConnell.

AWR Hawkins is an award winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News.  He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange