Below The Radar: HR 687 Handgun Licensing and Registration Act

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Below The Radar: HR 687 Handgun Licensing and Registration Act

United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- You may think this is legislation we’ve covered before. But you’d be wrong. There are a number of licensing schemes percolating in Congress, ranging from the Blair Holt Firearm Owner Licensing and Record of Sale Act to the Handgun Purchaser Licensing Act to the Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act.

HR 687, the Handgun Licensing and Registration Act, has been proposed by Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), joins the collection of licensing schemes. This bill is not as intrusive as the Sabika Sheikh act, and unlike the Blair Holt act, it only targets handguns. Still, this bill is a very bad piece of news when it comes to our Second Amendment rights.

What this bill does is to impose a federal licensing scheme on any state that doesn’t already have one. Now, this licensing scheme treats anyone who wishes to exercise their Second Amendment rights like a common criminal, requiring a photograph and fingerprints. It’s an effort to stigmatize wanting to own a handgun, even though the Heller decision made it clear that owning a handgun is protected under the Second Amendment.

Coleman has not released any statement on this bill on her official website. That being said, Coleman’s track record has been that of a reliable vote against our rights. But what is particularly concerning about this bill it the lack of details.

Say what you will about the monstrosities proposed by Sheila Jackson Lee or Elizabeth Warren, but they at least told us what to expect. Coleman’s bill, though, is vague on exact details. The text puts in some qualifications but doesn’t discuss things like how much the fee would be. In addition, the federal scheme is only applicable in states that don’t pass their own licensing scheme. Of course, state licensing schemes can be even more stringent than the requirements in Coleman’s bill.

The fact of the matter is that this licensing scheme isn’t about safety. It’s about deterring Americans from exercising their Second Amendment rights. Representative Coleman could, if she wanted to address the misuse of firearms, be pushing something akin to Project Exile or she would sign on to the Prosecuting Gun Crimes Saves Lives Act.

The fact is, the Handgun Licensing and Registration Act needs to be defeated. Second Amendment supporters should contact their Senators and Representative and politely urge the defeat of HR 687.


About Harold HutchisonHarold Hutchison

Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.

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Vanns40

It’s dead. McConnell won’t even let it be brought up. The key message here is to take back the House so the idiots are no longer in power in Congress.

PMinFl

Vanns, I hope you’re right and that this bill has been nullified(past tense).I don’t count on McConnell for ANY support of the 2nd amendment. He has proven himself to be short on commitment.

Phil in TX

I believe that if HR 687 is passed and signed into law (very unlikely at this point) that it would override FOPA. Please contact your legislatore, Congressmen and Senators and ask them to vote against this and all other gun control bills.

Phil in TX

Ryben Flynn

FOPA forbids the Federal Government from registering or licensing guns and gun owners. Federal Law 18 U.S.C. 926

Get Out

Hopefully this BS gets squashed and is DOA.Question is, when they get done with defunding the police or disbanding the police, how will they enforce Handgun Licensing and Registration and who’ll be going out there to enforce Handgun Licensing and Registration?

StLPro2A

UH…that would be Obummer’s promised police force better armed than the military……aka Burn/Loot/Murder.goons.

Boomer

Hopefully the previous commenter is right and the bill is “dead”, but just in case why not reinforce your position to those in gov? Heres the FPC take action link since ole Harold never includes direct links and the link he did provide doesn’t go to anything relevant to 687.
https://www.firearmspolicy.org/hr-687