Opinion
Fairfax, VA – -(Ammoland.com)- On January 8th, 2019, two bills were introduced in Congress to impose so-called “universal” background checks. The bills, H.R. 8 and S. 42, are being misleadingly described as simply requiring background checks on all sales of firearms, but this is just a small part of what these overbroad pieces of legislation would do.
A hearing on this gun control legislation will take place in the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives next week. Therefore, it is vital that gun owners immediately contact their Representative to urge them to oppose this legislation, and that gun owners encourage their freedom-minded family and friends to do the same.
We’ve created a new webpage to dispel many of the myths being circulated by proponents of these gun control bills.
This legislation won’t stop criminals, but it does create many traps for law-abiding gun owners to unwittingly violate the law.
Don’t Criminalize Private Firearms Transfers
Ask your U.S. Representative to oppose H.R.8. Additionally, you may call your U.S. Representative using the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Traps for Law-Abiding Gun Owners
Both bills would make it a crime, subject to certain exceptions, to simply hand a firearm to another person. Any time gun owners carry out this simple act, they would potentially be exposing themselves to criminal penalties. While the bills do create some exceptions, they are overly complicated and create many traps for unwary gun owners. Accidental violations of these complicated provisions are not excused under the proposed legislation.
Expanded Background Checks Don’t Work
Proponents of so-called “universal” background checks claim that this legislation is the “most important” thing that can be done to stop dangerous people from obtaining firearms. This is a lie. There is no evidence that expanded background checks are useful for this purpose.
Just last year, a study by anti-gun researchers confirmed that expanded background checks in California did not reduce gun homicides or gun suicides.
This finding is consistent with a review of past studies on expanded background checks by the RAND Corporation that found that “evidence of the effect of private-seller background checks on firearm homicides is inconclusive.”
In 2013, the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice researched so-called “universal” background checks and determined that they would be not be effective without further harsh firearms restrictions and efforts to combat straw purchasing.
Criminals are not deterred by background checks. ATF has reported, “[t]he most frequent type of trafficking channel identified in ATF investigations is straw purchasing from federally licensed firearms dealers. Nearly 50 percent … .” A Chicago-area inmate explained this reality to researchers from the University of Chicago in relation to Illinois’s stringent firearm licensing regime for a 2015 study, stating, “All they need is one person who got a gun card in the ‘hood’ and everybody got one.”
A 2016 Department of Justice survey of “state and federal prisoners who had possessed a firearm during the offense for which they were serving” found that the most common source of prisoner firearms was “Off the street/underground market.” This was defined as “Illegal sources of firearms that include markets for stolen goods, middlemen for stolen goods, criminals or criminal enterprises, or individuals or groups involved in sales of illegal drugs.” Less than one percent had obtained their firearm from a gun show.
The research confirms that anti-gun members of Congress aren’t interested in actually addressing violent crime; they’re just trying to deflect the blame on law-abiding gun owners. Please use this link to let your elected officials know that you won’t be blamed for the actions of violent criminals. Ask your Representative to oppose H.R.8. Additionally, you may call your U.S. Representative using the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.
About:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org
I trust nobody,been gypped many times in life.but these jokers are paid george soros pawns.
Right wing,left wing both parts of same bird
DONE, contacted my reps. I hope it does some good but the house is going to vote for it, I’m sure because it is controlled by the commies. Hopefully, the senate can stop it and the president won’t sign it. We have no guarantees on any of that. It is too bad we can’t trust our employees but they think they are our bosses. If it would be possible to take their paycheck away they might realize they are still employees.
Congress might not like what happens to them and their liberal supporters if they choose to be the A-Holes we expect. The war is going to happen, it really depends on how stupid they are in terms of pushing their luck.
Instead of contacting our representatives, why don’t we contact our local sheriff’s, police chiefs, and state police or trooper’s to arrest these people that commit treason against the constitution? After all, a good percentage of them are veterans. And our oath doesn’t stop after we leave the military, it goes on till the last breath we take in this lifetime.
Just a idea.
THATS A GREAT IDEA
Absolutely get a hold of your state representatives. Anyone who would disarm the public is treasonous. That goes for legislators, judges and enforcement people alike. They swore an oath to defend the constitution but they hold themselves above the law while they strangle the public out of our guaranteed freedoms and rights. Treason is a serious crime that is punishable by death. Somehow there has to be a way to arrest, lock up and put on trial people who are treasonous. Any lawyers and Federal law enforcement out there willing to take up the challenge? I can only hope and… Read more »
It always surprises me when asked to notify my elected officials about anything anti-gun. The only time a democrat would respond to anything is when you give them money or vote for them. I live in the one party state of California where these lifetime democrats no longer represent us, but rule us. Their mentality is that it’s their job to decide what’s best and damn the second amendment. I have countless form letters from those that took time to respond stating “While we disagree” on issues, they decided to do what they wanted instead of what the people asked… Read more »
Yes. Thank you
Who is going to obey it? How do the idiots proposing this stupid law think they are going to track millions of unregistered firearms in this country?
It’s really all about having more laws on the book to throw at you if you ever have to use a firearm in self-defense.
I seem to remember the NRA’s current CEO testifying before congress in favor of this legislation in 1999…
This has no chance of passing as we have a Republican Congress and President Trump will not sign such a law You cannot argue against these laws using logic and statistics. It is completely immaterial whether background checks prevent crimes or not. These are incremental gun bans masquerading as gun safety laws . Our only strategy against these moves is no compromise at all! This is why millions of people are leaving NRA and are moving to gun owners of America NRA has compromised over and over again with these gun banners and gun owners of America takes a no… Read more »
Yes, we have a GOP majority Senate but how many of them are dems in GOP clothing? I don’t trust the Senate OR Trump on this at all. The GOP have caved on the wall and many other things. They held both houses for 2 years and failed American people on major issues. Nope, I don’t trust them to do the right thing at all. Don’t remember the cowardly GOP during the Kavanah hearings do you? Don’t know of the GOP members initiating the “Red-Flag” Laws do you? Both parties are corrupt. The democRATS just shout it out louder. The… Read more »
Just get ready to make your firearms go missing. They may ban, but cannot take what cannot be found. Brits tried this in the 1770s and we shot them. Could end up being 2nd war of independence.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT , WE ARE READY
I could not agree more or have stated this in a better manner. I just wish more people (citizens), would pay attention to what is REALLY happening before it is too late.
I voted for Trump and still thank God he was elected rather than his blithering idiot opponent. We can NOT however, trust Trump or the RINOs in Congress to stand up and have our backs in this fight. Trump has already stated his support for Red Flag disarmament of Americans with no provision for due process. It’s not a big stretch to visualize him and them signing off on this obvious and incrementally deadly obliviation of our civil rights. Given Trump’s propensity for shooting from the lip and the feckless RINOs’ get along/go along spineless acquiescence to government infringement of… Read more »
throws in goverment who chose to break the law should be charge with crimal crimes for way to long we alow them to be above the law, and they beleave that they are the law in short be dam with fed laws and be dam with gun and drug laws but we the people alow this to happen, we the people should be sueing these people in cort and then asking for crimal charges, they taken a oath of office that said they would up hold the law of usa, not any one state this in its self would make… Read more »
Spell check and proof reading would help immensely.
That is the most incoherent, illegible run on thing I have ever read!!! Are you illiterate? Did you even pass reading/ writing in school? If you are what the scool systems are producing, we are in BIG trouble. Do you even understand sentence structure, punctuation, Capitalization, spelling, grammar, or anything? Dude, come on..SMFH
f sr8 , s42 & their originators/supporters