U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- Voters roundly rejected gun control groups and their anti-Second Amendment schemes on Election Day. That hasn’t stopped these groups from searching for alternatives to advance their anti-gun agenda. Now failed presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s “news” site The Trace is giving former Vice President Joe Biden a playbook to use for executive actions, despite the will of the voters.
Executive Gun Control
While votes are still being tallied, a Biden-Harris administration is exactly what gun control groups wanted. Former Vice President Joe Biden let Everytown for Gun Safety run the traps on his selection of his vice presidential candidate, ultimately settling on U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). The two comprised the most antigun presidential ticket in history.
Sen. Harris was forced to drop out due to a lack of support before her home state’s primary. She had campaigned on a promise to strongarm Congress on gun control. Biden derided Second Amendment supporters and has vowed to eliminate the firearm industry. Voters sent a different message, electing pro-Second Amendment policymakers to protect their rights in Congress. The Election Day rebuff isn’t stopping gun control.
Faux News
The Trace brands itself as an “independent non-partisan, non-profit news site,” but that’s hardly truthful. An exclusive report by Guns America Digest shows 70 percent of The Trace’s budget comes from Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety and Everytown’s president John Feinblatt is listed as The Trace’s chief officer.
They’re now proffering a White House playbook full of executive actions, overreach, and ineffective attempts to reduce criminal misuse of firearms.
The Playbook
The Trace spoke with Chelsea Parsons of the far-left Center for American Progress and offered several actions Biden could take immediately. None are unfamiliar as voters already rejected these notions at the polls.
A potential Biden-Harris administration could immediately “reinvigorate” the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) by nominating a director who will “promote gun violence prevention values and prioritize a regulatory oversight mission,” Parsons said. The Biden campaign stated he’d use the ATF as an anvil to punish retailers for even minor clerical errors, threatening to revoke licenses and put them out of business. This option would require Senate confirmation of any nominee and for the time being, pro-gun rights senators hold a majority.
Parsons also suggested a possible Biden White House could use executive action to overhaul how the ATF classifies certain firearms according to the National Firearms Act. Taking such an action by fiat would instantly turn millions of lawful gun owners into criminals for possessing what was already legally purchased if they don’t fall in line. The alternative is confiscation.
Next on the list is cracking down on so-called “ghost guns,” unfinished firearms or unassembled firearm parts commonly used by gunsmiths and hobbyists since the nation’s founding. Some Democratic governors banned these firearms, but data on their use is already sparse.
Parsons added, “Ideally, we’d be able to pass legislation to take care of it. But in the absence of that, this is something that can certainly be addressed through rulemaking.”
Everytown is currently suing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) in federal court in New York City to force ATF to define casts and forgings as a firearm frame or receiver requiring serial numbers, record keeping, and a manufacturing license.
The last major suggestion Parsons offered was for the administration to ban importing so-called “assault weapons.” Parsons specifies that executive action could only ban importing these firearms and that legislative action would be needed for Biden’s preferred avenue of banning the sale and manufacture of these common firearms. New data shows there are nearly 20 million Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) in circulation today.
For gun owners and Second Amendment supporters, a rock-ribbed pro-rights Senate is essential in backstopping against any future infringement on Second Amendment rights.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
Is the same playbook Trump, Barr, Cornyn and the rest of the Republicans used to enact arms control during the last four years? You know…those guys you endorsed? Oh, that’s right! I forgot you only oppose arms control when Democrats threaten it.
And a free people will Just Say No. One might remind the left of the definition of “infringe” and remind them that our rights do not come from government but from the very fact of our Creation. Government’s only legitimate purpose is to defend rights already in existence prior to the formation of government. Abandoning that proposition renders existing governments illegitimate. Illegitimate governments are replaced by legitimate governments and can be so replaced using the existing Constitution and statement of purpose, the Declaration of Independence. One need simply strip away the 140 years of usurpation from our codes and case… Read more »