The election is over. Joe Biden is our President (he is my President) and he is going to start paying off all the chits he wrote during the election.
One of those chits was putting Beto in charge of gun control — maybe not literally, but figuratively.
I care not a whit about the gun issue, as I think the Second Amendment is dispositive of the matter though it may take going to the Supreme Court to make that stick, but I do think there is room for some common ground.
Will we find it? No. Sorry. Not a chance in Hell.
Why, Big Red Car? Can’t we talk?
Well, there won’t be any talking. There will be House Resolution 127 the Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act filed by Rep Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas CD #18.
There are a total of six gun control related bills already in the House.
Congresswoman Lee introduced the bill in the House on 4 January 2021, before Joe Biden was even inaugurated.
On its face, it looks less than fatal as it simply says: “To provide for the licensing of firearm and ammunition possession and registration of firearms, and to prohibit the possession of certain ammunition.”
However, in its guts, it is not going to bridge differences, not going to create common ground, not going to spark wholesome discussion — it is going to drive everybody into their corners and the fight will be on.
What’s in the bill, Big Red Car?
Here are the highlights:
1. Creates a firearm registry (and searchable database) requiring the make, model, serial number, owner’s name, date of acquisition, and the location of the weapon for every weapon in America.
The government will know the location of every gun held by hones Americans, but not criminals.
2. Creates a firearm license (and searchable database) of the name and personal information of every gun owner in America (72,000,000).
The government will know the name and personal information of every gun owner in the United States except for criminals.
3. The license will require the following:
The licensee must be 21
The licensee must undergo a background investigation (fee involved)
The license must undergo a psychological evaluation by a licensed psychologist and the psychologist must interview current and former spouses, and up to 2 family members (fee involved) — haha, that former spouse thing?
The licensee must undergo 24 hours of training — shooting skills, safety, law, storage (fee involved)
The licensee must purchase from the government an annual insurance policy with a fee of $800 per annum (fee involved)
4. There will be a national system of insurance paid for by licensees (72,000,000 gun owners) at the rate of $800/licensee/year.
THIS SINGLE FEE WILL COST GUNOWNERS $57,600,000,000 — THAT’S $57.6 BILLION DOLLARS.
If you owned a P-38 pistol with a value of $1200-1500 (I purposely picked an expensive weapon), you would pay $4,000 for insurance during a 5-year period.
5. Fees will be charged for the license, background investigation, psychological evaluation, training, and insurance. It would cost more than $1,000 – $1,500 at a minimum to begin gun ownership.
6. If a licensee, gun owner “loans” a weapon to another, that person must be licensed and the government must be notified of the lending arrangement including the term of the loan. Failure to do so is a criminal offense with stout penalties.
7. The penalties under the proposed legislation are draconian — for failure to register a weapon or to possess an unregistered weapon or to be unlicensed, the penalty would be:
A fine of not less than $75,000, and not more than $150,000
Imprisonment of not less than 15 years and not more than 25 years
There are other penalties that are more severe, but this is the baseline penalty for the simplest offenses. Penalties increase if the weapon is used in the commission ofa crime or a suicide.
8. The proposed legislation bans any magazine more than 10 rounds and all ammunition larger than 0.50 caliber
So, yeah, this is a very tough bill.
What else, Big Red Car?
There are a total of six bills in the House right now.
Joe Biden has openly declared war on the 5,000,000 member National Rifle Association and promises to “defeat the NRA and end our epidemic of gun violence.”
President Biden takes pride in his role in passing the 1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the 1994 Assault Rifle Ban (since expired) while a Senator from Delaware.
On President Biden’s campaign website he bragged he had taken on the National Rifle Association twice and won both times.
Bottom line it, Big Red Car
Not feeling much healing or cooperation on the issue of common sense gun control.
We are getting to tee it up on gun control. Stay tuned.