United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- One of the techniques anti-Second Amendment extremists use to try to get their agenda pass is to try to couch infringements on Second Amendment rights as making the country safer and more secure. We can see a classic example of this in HR 3569, the Making America Safe and Secure Act of 2019.
This legislation was introduced by Representative Joe Kennedy III (D-MA). The Kennedy family has, over the decades, worked against our right to keep and bear arms. In one sense, this crusade is understandable – President John F. Kennedy (a NRA member) and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were both killed by the misuse of firearms.
So, Representative Kennedy is a formidable foe, particularly since he can count on the media to try to shame those who attack him on his anti-Second Amendment extremism, especially should he launch smears against those who object to his agenda.
This bill purports to provide safety and security through bribing states via federal grants to establish licensing schemes. It is, in one sense, very similar to the Handgun Purchaser Licensing Act that Representative Jamie Raskin and Senator Chris Van Hollen introduced. There is one big difference: Raskin and Van Hollen merely targeted handguns, while Kennedy wants to see all firearms covered under a licensing scheme. Even those who only have hunting rifles or shotguns would fall under that regime.
We’ve discussed licensing schemes before, and the variety of schemes that have been put forth range from the burdensome Illinois-style version proposed in the Blair Holt legislation introduced by Bobby Rush and Tammy Duckworth to the onerous New Jersey-style system pushed by Cory Booker to the massively unjust scheme Sheila Jackson Lee’s Sabika Sheikh Act would impose.
Like the Raskin-Van Hollen bill, Kennedy doesn’t set out a lot of specifics, but among the things his bill allows are clear signs that he intends to make millions of Americans who had nothing to do with the murders of JFK or RFK pay penalties for those killings in the form of lost liberty. This includes fingerprinting (treating a law-abiding citizen who wants to exercise their Second Amendment rights like a common criminal) and also allowing those running a licensing scheme to consider unspecified “other factors relevant to the suitability of a license holder.” This is a massive loophole for an abusive bureaucrat – with or without the direction of an anti-Second Amendment politician.
The Second Amendment is meaningless if the ability to possess a firearm can be denied on unspecified “other factors relevant to the suitability of a license holder.” In addition, such restrictions are in place in a number of jurisdictions that have high crime rates – and which have really skyrocketed in recent weeks.
Second Amendment supporters should contact their Senators and Representatives and politely urge them to oppose HR 3569 and to instead support legislation like the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act and the Prosecuting Gun Crimes Saves Lives Act. Representative Kennedy’s family has seen some horrible tragedies involving those who misused their Second Amendment rights, but when he seeks to inflict injustice on millions of Americans who had nothing to do with those tragedies, he is in the wrong.
About Harold 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.
An ordinance which… makes the peaceful enjoyment of freedoms which the Constitution guarantees contingent upon the uncontrolled will of an official — as by requiring a permit or license which may be granted or withheld in the discretion of such official — is an unconstitutional censorship or prior restraint upon the enjoyment of those freedoms. And our decisions have made clear that a person faced with such an unconstitutional licensing law may ignore it and engage with impunity in the exercise of the right of free expression for which the law purports to require a license. –SHUTTLESWORTH v. CITY OF… Read more »
“The Second Amendment is meaningless if the ability to possess a firearm can be denied on unspecified “other factors relevant to the suitability of a license holder.” In addition, such restrictions are in place in a number of jurisdictions that have high crime rates – and which have really skyrocketed in recent weeks.” Communists like ‘holen’ have an iron fist policy of control in Maryland.
His grandfather, RFK, was murdered by a raghead terrorist. Yet, he kisss raghead ass. JFK, an NRA Member who supported the 2A, was murdered by Oswald, an ACLU member.
Less than 20% of “gun crimes” are committed by people who can legally own guns. So, instead of banning guns, why not “ban” people who can’t legally own a gun? If you want to reduce “gun violence”, that seems more likely to work. It could also be noted that 90% of the “gun crime” is committed by a group that only comprises about 6% of the population. Hmmm.
@MC; Your comment about holding THUGS responsible makes too much of COMMON SENSE to be applied by the COMMUNIST bureaucracies across America.
Shh, We’re not supposed to know that this licensing scheme isn’t really a registration scheme. To bad SCOTUS is useless when it pertains to the 2nd Amendment.
WTF….There was no “misuse” of firearms when the Kennedy’s were killed. They were actually precision shots!