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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s move to stop fellow Senator Dianne Feinstein’s gun control bill should in no way mean he is opposed to more gun control. That move may in fact have simply been to clear the way for his own S. 649 bill which will probably be presented just after the Easter recess.
The bill’s summary says that it is “To ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the national instant criminal background check system and require a background check for every firearm sale, and for other purposes.”
According to Gun Owners of America (GOA):
We expected it to contain the Veterans Gun Ban, which would mean that you would sell, gift, or raffle a gun in America at the risk of a 15-year prison sentence because of something you didn’t know about the veteran/buyer.
But, surprisingly to us, the Far Left has convinced Reid to include the original Schumer version of the Universal Registry Bill. This would ban private sales of firearms, unless purchasers first get the permission from the government. If Senators can pass this de facto registration bill, they will be well on the way to confiscation (see, for example, Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York, who has a gun owner registry and has called for gun confiscation). If this bill is passed, Senators will claim that they “broke the back” of gun owners in America.
The GOA points out that “there is still every evidence that Reid will move to proceed to the bill under ‘regular order,’ which means he will need 60 votes to advance to the ‘gun control buffet.’”
Michael E. Hammond of Gun Owners of America writes, “Unless Harry Reid wants to invoke a ‘special order’ procedure which will be a disaster for him, he needs 60 votes to proceed to his gun control bill (S. 649) — votes which Reid does not have if the GOP holds firm. If Republicans hold the line, in fact, Reid probably doesn’t even have 50 votes. And, for reasons which we can explain in a future memorandum, the ‘special order’ procedure could cause horrific problems for Reid.”
“So with one vote, the GOP could kill all gun control,” he continues. “And, as for those ‘blue state’ Republicans who are scared of the ‘gun issue,’ here’s a question: Why would you not want to limit your exposure to one vote which can be framed around opposition to the unpopular Feinstein amendment, rather than have Reid subject you to 20 votes on a variety of ‘gun issues’ which he is crafting to make you easy to defeat? In other words, if you can kill all gun control with one vote, why would you not want to do that?”
One provision in Reid’s bill is enough to give one pause about the rest. The Veterans Gun Ban (S. 54), which will certainly be in the underlying bill, is a travesty. It creates a fifteen-year prison sentence for negligent sales, negligent gifting, and negligent raffling of firearms. Given that 150,000 law-abiding veterans have had their gun rights taken away (without due process) — and given that all marijuana smokers and medical marijuana users are prohibited persons whether or not on the NICS list – you would sell, gift, or raffle a firearm only at your own risk. The Veterans Gun Ban was reported out of Judiciary Committee with virtually unanimous Republican opposition.
Second Amendment advocates are in danger of allowing supposed compromise to end up taking away the right they have worked so hard to protect.
