Gun control measure to be introduced by Pelosi, Democrats

By
Suzanne Downing
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7

COMING TUESDAY: A NEW ATTEMPT TO CURB GUN SALES, TRANSFERS

On Tuesday, a proposal to mandate universal background checks for nearly all gun transfers will be introduced in the U.S. House.

The proposal is spearheaded by Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chairman Rep. Mike Thompson, also a California Democrat, and Republican Rep. Peter King of New York.

The existence of the bill was reported in Politico. It would make exceptions for “hunting and family” transfers, and does not address the boogeyman topic of “assault weapons,” sources have told reporters.

Critics say the attempt to force universal background checks is misguided, since the top cause of gun death is suicide, and in that cohort, male veteran suicide is the highest cause of gun death.

Beyond that, the leading cause of gun deaths are vice crime-related, especially involving illegal transfers of guns between criminals who are not legally allowed to own firearms and are not likely to register such transfers.

Former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords will be on the House floor on Tuesday to help introduce the bill. Tuesday is the 8th anniversary of the shooting that nearly killed her in Arizona. Six people died and she sustained extensive brain injury.

In a news release from Speaker Pelosi’s office, Giffords said, “Thanks to the relentless efforts of advocates, courageous gun violence survivors, and the American voters who elected new leaders to Congress, I am thrilled that for the first time in decades, the United States House of Representatives will no longer sit silent as our nation reels from the growing gun violence epidemic.”
Giffords Courage to Fight Gun Violence and a group called Everytown for Gun Safety far outspent the National Rifle Association to elect gun-control lawmakers to Congress during the 2018 midterm elections. The two groups’ campaign expenditures for gun-control candidates exceeded $37 million, compared to the NRA, which spent $20 million for pro-Second Amendment candidates.
Thirty percent of Americans own guns, and over 40 percent of Americans live in a home that has a firearm, according to the Pew Research Center in a report released on Dec. 27, 2018. Forty-eight percent of U.S. adults grew up in a household with guns, and 72 percent of Americans have fired a gun at some point in their lives.
Among Americans who own a firearm, 66 percent own more than one, including 29 percent who own five or more. A large majority of gun owners (72%) own a handgun or pistol, while 62% own a rifle and 54% own a shotgun, according to Pew.
Three-quarters of gun owners say they could never see themselves not owning a gun, according to Pew, whose summary of its gun survey can be found here.
Although critics of such surveys say they underestimate the number of Americans who own guns because gun owners don’t like answering survey questions about their firearms, views on gun laws trend along partisan lines, with 80 percent of Democrats wanting stricter gun laws, and just 28 percent of Republicans favoring the same. More than half of Republicans surveyed feel the current gun laws are acceptable.
Democrats and some Republican co-sponsors introduced a background check bill in November, but with Republicans in power, the measure never reached the floor for a vote. Even if it is moved forward in the House, it’s not likely to get out of committee in the Republican-controlled Senate.

7 COMMENTS

  1. What bothers me about this is it becomes a form of defacto gun registration. Because how do you know if a gun has been transferred properly unless…its registered. But thats not how its being sold. Oregon passed a law like this and nobody mentions this scenario either. You go on vacation and decide you want to have a friend/neighbor hold your firearms while your gone. A friend you may have known for 20 years. To do that you & friend have to take your guns together to a Licensed dealer where your friend undergoes a background check (at a cost) and the transaction is recorded. When you (the owner) get back home back to the gun store you go, with the guns, where you the owner must undergo a background check (and pay the fees) to get them back. Magically your guns are now registered for when GOV decides they want to register all guns or require a license to own a gun (with a fee attached of course).

    But if we are going to have a law like this maybe attached to it there should be a rider that allows universal concealed carry in all 50 states.

  2. And the one group who won’t have to register their guns? Felons and others who are prohibited from having them. Their 5th amendment right against self incrimination protects their right to not register, because doing so would incriminate them! If anyone were to try to prosecute them for not registering or doing a background check, they would simply say that doing so would violate their constitutional right to not incriminate themselves to the government. Oh, the irony. If only the gun grabbers could see past their own hypocrisy.

  4. Make no mistake. Democrats want to take all the guns from law-abiding Americans. And please do not think that Alaska Democrats are different. The anti-gun rhetoric espoused by people opposing the Alaska guns on campus bill of two or three years ago was much the same rhetoric used by Pelosi today. Moreover, University of Alaska officials used the same tactics in opposing that state legislation you can now expect to see in the US House of Representatives. Democrats on both the national and state level, and the media, are locked and loaded to shove anti-gun legislation down our throats whenever there is a mass shooting or school shooting incident; exactly what Representative Tarr attempted with her legislation that followed the incident in which an Anchorage fellow, some sort of deranged Middle Eastern wannabe, was detained by the FBI, then given his gun back after which he flew to Florida to murder people at random in the airport. To Alaska gun owners every election is about the Second Amendment. Lastly, if you are not an NRA member you need to join now!

  5. Relax, all you Second Amendment guys and gals. Obama, Pelosi and all other big-name Lefties are the reason for huge gun sales in America. Colt, Sig, Rueger, Savage, S&W, Remington, et al, love these idiots. Arms manufacturers score major profits everytime the gun haters open their mouths and the wacky media writes or opines about it. Expect monstrous gun and ammo sales in 2019. And many new, life-memberships sold by the NRA. These idiot Democrats are the best marketing tools for weapon sales……..ever. Heading out the door now to buy a new Sig .40 and AR 15. See ya on the practice range.

  6. They should take off all the locks on their windows and doors and disarm their bodyguards so that they have no weapons. Let’s see how long that lasts…

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