LTE – JoAnn Utphall – 6-15-2021
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In last week’s Letter to the Editor, I absent-mindedly substituted New Haven for Hay River. It should have read, “Hay River Township adopted the resolution the same night it was presented.”
In April, as Biden was unveiling six executive orders, he said “Nothing I am about to recommend in any way impinges on the Second Amendment,” and said, “calling arguments suggesting that those constitutional rights are at stake, phony …… No amendment, no amendment to the Constitution is absolute.” Maybe Biden needs to read the Declaration of Independence which states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Definition of inalienable is “not transferable to another or not capable of being taken away or denied.”
Here is a list of 2021Federal “gun” bills that have been introduced.
H.R.30 – To increase public safety by punishing and deterring firearms trafficking.
H.R.121 – To provide for the hiring of 200 additional Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents and investigators to enforce gun laws.
H.R.125 – To amend Title 18, United States Code, to provide for a 7-day waiting period before a semiautomatic firearm, a silencer, armor piercing ammunition, or a large capacity ammunition magazine may be transferred.
H.R.127 – To provide for the licensing of firearm and ammunition possession and the registration of firearms, and to prohibit the possession of certain ammunition.
H.R.130 – To require the safe storage of firearms and ammunition, and to require the investigation of reports of improper storage of firearms or ammunition.
H.R.167 – To prohibit the transfer of a firearm at a gun show by a person who is not a federally licensed firearms dealer.
H.R. 8 (Background Checks Act) listed new requirements for background checks of individuals who purchase, are given, weapons from private parties. An article in the Business and Politics sums this up nicely: “Dan Cadman at the Center for Immigration Studies pointed out: “Rep. W. Gregory Steube (R-Fla.) introduced an amendment, the focus of which is easy to understand: It requires that whenever any gun purchase is imminent — whether between private parties, or individuals and licensed firearms dealers, or whomever — a comparison of data is made between the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) database of immigration violators. When there is a match indicating that an alien illegally in the country is attempting to buy a firearm, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would be notified so that the attempted purchaser could be apprehended and prosecuted and/or removed.” Most of the Democrats voted against this amendment to the bill even though it basically unites existing electronic systems, would protect the public and block the sale of guns to illegal aliens. This is definitely an example of double standards where House Democrats are comfortable taking away the gun rights of law-abiding American citizens and protecting illegals.
On the other hand we have, “The Hearing Protection Act, filed as H.R. 95 which would amend federal law to remove suppressors from the list of National Firearms Act-controlled items. It would not require a $200 tax stamp and an extensive NFA paperwork to transfer. They would be treated like all other firearm.” According to Larry Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, “Firearm suppressors are a safety device designed to make recreational shooting safer.” Also wouldn’t it be better for a homeowner to be using this during a home invasion?
H.R. 38 allows people with state-issued concealed carry licenses or permits to conceal a handgun in any other state as long as the permit holder follows the laws of that state. It also gives residents of constitutional carry states the ability to carry in other states. Second Amendment rights do not disappear when we cross state lines. This bill would guarantee that.
According to Mike Pompeo, “The threats to our Second Amendment cannot be overstated. Protecting these rights is absolutely essential to promoting American freedom.”
Some of the issues in these bills are legitimate; like loopholes. But some of the items in these bills penalize law-biding citizens. We absolutely do not want any agency in the Federal government to have a nation-wide gun register of gun owners, including the address of where the guns are located, list of guns, and even where the guns are located in the building. Remember what happened to the US Native Americans after the US government took their guns away back in the 1800’s. Both Cuba and Venezuela took the guns away from their citizens. Remember Nazi Germany and the Jews. Remember when Biden was campaigning he said, ”If elected, I’m coming for you (referring to the NRA)” or when asked if he would take the gun away from US citizens, he said hell yes.
JoAnn Utphall
Boyceville