After the GOP lost the House to the Democrats, the flood of “common sense” progressive proposals was inevitable. Each week, Liberty Nation digs up the little gems hidden amongst the legislative slop that can make a huge difference to your freedom.
Bullet Control
Bullet Control: Democrats have fantasized about it, leftist media outlets like CNN, NYT, and HuffPost have waxed philosophical on it, and President Obama even tried to enact it through Executive Order.
“You don’t need no gun control, you know what you need? We need some bullet control,” comedian Chris Rock said during his stand-up routine many years ago. He argued that all bullets should cost $5,000. Actual legislation has been proposed – though it went nowhere, of course – that would impose enough tax on ammunition to raise the cost of a box of 9mm bullets to $1,500.
But bullet control is back in Congress this week, as Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced a bill they call “Jamie’s Law.” If passed, all ammunition sales would require the same background check needed to purchase guns from a licensed dealer. Indeed, even private ammo sales would need to go through a licensed dealer so that the proper check could be done.
Parkland parent and contributor to this scheme, Fred Guttenberg, admitted that bill’s chances of clearing the Senate aren’t great – but he believes that failing to pass it will result in a Senate “blue wave” when the 2020 elections roll around. He points out that there are nearly 40,000 firearms related deaths each year. That’s technically true, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But what he either misses or neglects to explain is that not much more than a third of those are homicides. The great majority of the rest are, most likely, suicides – an unfortunate statistic that banning specific types of weapons isn’t likely to improve, as people would simply find other ways to opt out.
The authors of the bill also failed to address how such legislation would be any more difficult to circumvent than background checks for guns – which, as Liberty Nation’s Jeff Charles explained, simply don’t prevent violent crime.
As gun control proposals go, this one probably has better chances of passing than most. After all, so long as you agree with the premise that background checks are a good thing, the logic behind this bill is sound: If any group of people should be prohibited from buying firearms, then they shouldn’t be able to purchase ammo either. Having said that, the anti-gun left has yet to get universal background checks passed for all firearms. It seems likely this bill could pass the now Democrat-controlled House – but almost certainly not the Senate.
SAFE Cracking
On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) reintroduced his Second Amendment Guarantee Act. SAGA, as he calls it, is aimed directly at New York’s Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act of 2013.
“Governor Cuomo unjustly took away the Second Amendment rights from law abiding New Yorkers with his so-called SAFE Act,” Rep. Collins said in a statement. “I have and always will be a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and my legislation will guarantee that New Yorkers have the rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution.”
SAGA would prohibit states from regulating rifles and shotguns any more restrictively than the federal government already does – effectively nullifying Cuomo’s SAFE Act. The governor’s pet law is, as he boasts on the NYSAFE website, “the toughest assault weapons ban in the country.” It prohibits any magazines that hold more than seven rounds and classifies guns as “assault weapons” simply for having “military-style features,” like a telescoping stock or flash suppressor.
Such a bill might do well in the Senate. However, with the clear Democratic majority in the House, it seems destined to fade into the history of Congress without even a vote.
Tune in next week for more highlights – or lowlights – from Congress.
