A riptide surrounds the Second Amendment. Democrats are pushing the most restrictive gun legislation ever proposed – suggesting the Second Amendment has outlived its usefulness.
Meantime, they push defunding police, driving unprecedented guns sales for self-defense and from distrust of government. The riptide – pulling both ways – is strong. One side will win. The battle is joined. Make no mistake: Democrats are coming for America’s guns.
On the anti-gun front, President Biden proposed – and Democrats are demanding – a semi-automatic gun ban, lawsuits against gun makers, authority for national gun confiscation, and an outrageous string of unconstitutional moves, led by the so-called HR 127 bill. See, e.g., https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-urges-gun-law-reforms-on-parkland-shooting-anniversary/; https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/127/text?r=19&s=1. They echo former Democrat-appointed Supreme Court Justice, John Paul Stevens, who in 2018 pushed “repeal” the Second Amendment.” See, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/opinion/john-paul-stevens-repeal-second-amendment.html; https://time.com/5216782/john-paul-stevens-repeal-second-amendment/.
Shudderingly, Biden has enough votes to push these unconstitutional restrictions in the House, but so far only 54 votes in the Senate – with defecting Republicans. While Democrats claim a majority, past efforts have failed, the latest in 2019. If 60 votes remain needed – that is, the legislative filibuster holds – these facially unconstitutional prohibitions can be stopped. If the filibuster falters, watch out. See, e.g., https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/538672-biden-pledges-action-on-guns-amid-resistance; https://www.foxnews.com/politics/psaki-gun-control-a-priority-biden-not-afraid-of-standing-up-to-the-nra.
Devil is often in details – and the devil sure is here. One of leading bills, an exemplar of where Democrats want is HR 127. The bill, introduced by Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), pushes:
- Detailed registration of firearms, including where guns are in your house;
- All data on firearms, including who owns, what type, address, where kept will be “made public,” assuring federal government and criminals know what and where to look; can you imagine such a registry for jewels, cash, car keys?
- Anyone buying a gun must undergo a “psychiatric evaluation,” plus background check, plus training course – and government appoints the psychiatrist;
- Owners must have a federally approved gun “insurance policy,” and antique guns require a special license, proof stored “in a safe or facility” AG-approved;
- Any “military-style weapon” will require a special license – so poof! There go camo stocks, stylish grips and shapes, USMC and hunting knives, sling shots that looks “military-style” (and not sure about “military-style” forks and spoons);
- “Psychologists” are AG-approved, and Biden’s AG pick is strongly anti-gun;
- Ownership can be “denied” – and guns confiscated – if an owner is “hospitalized,” including involuntarily by government psychologist, as in the former Soviet Union;
- Hospitalization can be “with a mental illness, disturbance, or diagnosis (including depression, homicidal ideation, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, or addiction to a controlled substance (within the meaning of the Controlled Substances Act) or alcohol), or a brain disease (including dementia or Alzheimer’s); or … conduct that endangers self or others.” That about covers it, except for the common cold!
The statute also bars giving away firearms (including to your wife, son or daughter, descriptors which House rules also ban!). Illegal to is a loan or sale without AG permission, and never to a person under 18. God forbid Grampa wants to take grandkids hunting, let along give them the old shotgun for partridge.
Now the kicker: Sectional fines run from $30,000 to $150,000 – and Democrats who railed against mandatory minimum penalties, now impose them from 15 to 25 years in one section, lower brackets in others – for no license. Stalin and Mao would have loved this Democrat bill; it is more thorough than their anti-gun models. All this in America? See, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/127/text?r=19&s=1.
To enliven his leftwing base, Biden argues he is “standing up to” the National Rifle Association, but he is really undermining America’s desire to rearm. Gun sales spiked last summer with violent left-driven riots in 200 cities. Even liberal media had to report the fact, as guns and ammo were flying off shelves. See, e.g., https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/gun-sales-spike-over-political-unrest-uncertainty/; https://www.npr.org/2020/07/16/891608244/protests-and-pandemic-spark-record-gun-sales#. And polls suggest Americans have absolutely no appetite for gun control. See, https://www.westernjournal.com/poll-support-stricter-gun-control-laws-drops-lowest-level-years/.
Bottom line: Democrat anti-gun legislation is dangerous, unconstitutional, unpopular, and indefensible. It is anti-American, yet well-funded Democrats and hard left influencers aim to ride the riptide. If Americans defend their Second Amendment, the legislation will die, Biden lose. But if you think the threat is old hat, it is not. This time, they are coming for your guns.