By Tanya Metaksa
What’s New—Congress is in recess until after Labor Day; Biden Administration: Support any policy if it will stop the exercise of American’s Second Amendment rights; California: the legislature returned on Aug. 15; Illinois: Governor J.B. Pritzker signed HB218 while attending a rally of Second Amendment opponents; Massachusetts: Gun Owners Action League is holding a “2A Freedom Celebration” in Quincy on Sunday, Aug. 27 to rally against HB4420; Tennessee: According to The Tennessean “more than a 100 bill have been filed” for the special session which begins today.
Biden Administration
For information concerning BATFE’s redefining of “frames and receivers” and the resulting judicial furor please check out the weekly Judicial Report, last week’s can be found here.
Cracking down on gun dealers: Joe Biden in his ambition to destroy the firearms industry and deny Americans the right to keep and bear arms is not channeling former President Obama’s proposals, but former President Clinton’s gun control agenda.
In 1993 the Clinton administration was working to pass the Brady Bill, and working to tighten the process of applying for a Federal Firearms License (FFL). According to a 1994 article in The NY Times, “Since August, applicants have been fingerprinted and photographed as well, and the bureau now tells applicants that their names will be sent to the police, who may check on their compliance with the law.”The article goes on to say that in 1994 the number of new applicants dropped from over 7,000 to 1,000 in a year’s time. In the two decades between 1993 and 2014 FFLs went from 252,000 to 55,000. Then during the Obama administration there was an effort to redefine “engaging in the business” and the anti-gun lobby was pressuring for a change in order to again reduce the number of FFLs. Obama, however, was trying to sell that concept as increasing the number of FFLs.
US Congress
Congress is in recess until after Labor Day
Let your Representative and Senator know your position on these bills.
S.2226, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024: This bill has passed the U.S. Senate and it includes an amendment sponsored by Chairman Jack Reed (D-IL) that reauthorizes the Undetectable Firearms Act, a 1980s anti-plastic gun bill. When Congress returns in September there will be a clash with the House of Representatives over this bill. It is not a done deal.
H.R. 4366, The Appropriations bill for the Veterans Administration, was amended by Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Mike Bost (R-IL), with an amendment (#35) that would stop the VA from automatically reporting veterans to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) if someone else (a fiduciary) is handling their financial affairs. This automatic placing of veterans into the background check system because they have sought medical treatment for mental health issue is part of the original NICS law. During discussion of this bill, Representative Debbie Wassermann Schultz, (D-FL), who was essentially removed as Democrat Party Chairperson in 2016, called veterans who need “fiduciary assistance” mentally defective during a floor speech of the U.S. House of Representative. On July 26, 2023 the bill passed the House 228-206.
Legislatures/Local communities
The following states are currently in session: California, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Wisconsin. The states that are still in session but in recess are: Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont. All the rest have adjourned for 2023.
California—The legislature ended their recess on August 15. There are many anti-2nd Amendment bills left to be acted upon. Governor Gavin Newsom’s promotion of a constitutional amendment to remove the 2nd Amendment has found fertile ground in the legislature. After all, the Democrat controlled legislature is not a fan of the Second Amendment. On August 22 the Senate Public Safety Committee is having a hearing on SJR7, calling for a constitutional convention to amend the U.S. Constitution. The purpose of SJR& is to:
(a) Affirm that federal, state, and local governments may adopt public safety regulations limiting aspects of firearms acquisition, possession, public carry, and use by individuals, and that such regulations are consistent with the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and the understanding that throughout American history private individuals have possessed firearms for home defense, hunting, and recreational purposes;
(b) Impose, as a matter of national policy, the following firearms regulations and prohibitions: (1) universal background checks as a prerequisite to purchase or acquisition of a firearm, (2) a prohibition on sales, loans, or other transfers of firearms to those under 21 years of age, subject to limited exceptions, (3) a minimum waiting period after the purchase or acquisition of a firearm before that firearm may be delivered to the buyer or acquirer, and (4) a prohibition on the private possession of assault weapons and other weapons of war.
In addition, the Senate Appropriations Committee is holding a hearing on Aug. 21 on AB1587, requiring credit card issuers to use a Merchant Category Code to designate firearms and ammunition retailers. The last month of the legislature should be very, very busy.
Illinois: Governor J.B. Pritzker signed HB218 while attending a rally of Second Amendment opponents. The bill to is designed to stop the marketing of firearms to “minors”—in other words the suppression of the gun industry’s First Amendment rights. As promised earlier this month by NSSF President Larry Keane, on the next available business day, Monday August 14, a lawsuit was filed by NSSF, NSSF v. Raoul, “to block enforcement of the law, seeking to have it declared an unconstitutional violation of both the First and Second Amendment, in addition to violating the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.”According to the legal complaint, “HB 218 regulates selling, manufacturing, and advertising lawful (and constitutionally protected) firearms and related products. In other words, HB 218 regulates commerce in and speech relating to arms.”
Massachusetts: Gun Owners Action League is holding a “2A Freedom Celebration” in Quincy to rally against HB4420. The rally will be held on Sunday, Aug. 27. Sign up to register for the event. Door prizes include S&W M&P 15-22, IWI Tavor X-95, and a Keltec Sub-2000 9mm. As of Aug. 12 the following guest speakers have been announced: Jim Wallace – GOAL Executive Director, Cam Edwards – Bearing Arms Cam & Co. – Remote, Jared Yanis – Guns and Gadgets, Charlie Cook – Riding Shotgun with Charlie, Patrick Collins – TheGunFood.com. This is a GOAL members event only, so sign up and join the only statewide organization fighting for gun owners in Massachusetts.
Tennessee: Although we have been discussing the Special Session on Guns since the legislature adjourned, On August 8 Governor Bill Lee signed a proclamation calling the General Assembly back into session and sent out a press release. If a bill has not been filed by the beginning of the special session, August 21, it will be unlikely to advance due to a short session. The statewide newspaper, The Tennessean, has been publishing articles and editorials promoting gun bills as well as a “risk protection order to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.” On August 17 the newspaper published another pro-gun control piece. The next day a list of all the bills was in the paper in great detail.
