Right To Bear Arms September 2005

In late July, the United States Senate passed one of the most important bills for gun owners in recent times. By a vote of 65 to 31, The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, S397, was approved. This bill makes lawsuits against gun manufacturers and sellers illegal if their gun was used to commit a crime yet they did nothing wrong.

Lawsuits against the gun industry threatened to bankrupt them and have already made guns and bullets cost more for you and me. Cities and individuals were suing when a gun was used in a crime, even though the gun worked correctly and was purchased legally. If these suits had continued, gun manufacturers would have been put out of business, even the ones supplying guns for our troops.

Of the 31 votes to allow these ridiculous suits to continue, 29 were by Democrats and two were by Republicans. Heading the list against the bill were Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy, John Kerry, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden, and the rest of the usual list of gun banners. When Hillary goes out and shoots a goose when running for president in a couple of years, remember this vote. Her vote would have helped put all gun companies out of business, including the ones making hunting shotguns and weapons for our soldiers.

The one negative amendment on this bill was a requirement that all pistols sold include a trigger lock of some kind, whether you want it or not. If this provision stays in the bill, you will be charged for a lock even if you plan on keeping your new pistol in a safe or if you have no kids in your house and plan on keeping the pistol by your bed for protection. How long before these folks try to pass a law that requires your gun to have a trigger lock on it at all times? After all, this new provision requires that you pay for and get a trigger lock with every pistol you buy.

Despite the trigger-lock provision, overall this is an extremely good bill. Both Georgia Senators, Chambliss and Isakson, voted for S397 and against the trigger-lock amendment. Be sure to thank them.

Every time I hear the phrase “Reasonable gun-control laws” or “Sensible gun-control laws,” I think of the robot on the old Lost in Space show saying “Danger Will Robinson, Danger, Danger.” It is amazing the schemes gun banners can come up with that they call sensible and reasonable.

When discussing S397 on George Stephanopoulos’ Sunday morning TV show, Cokie Roberts lamented that the bill did not include a “sensible” amendment to ban cop-killer bullets. Teddy Kennedy had proposed that amendment, and it was defeated 64 to 31. The usual suspects — Clinton, Kennedy, Kerry, Schumer, Biden — voted for this amendment.

Time after time, Kennedy keeps sending up this bill that Cokie calls sensible. Yet he has been told repeatedly that his bill would ban almost all rifle bullets legal for deer hunting. ither he does not care that his bill would ban the bullets you use for deer hunting, or he is trying to fool all the people some of the time. Surely he is not so stupid that he does not know the effects of his bill.

Something else that rang my warning and danger bells was a new group called American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA). It claims to represent hunters and shooters but is in favor of “sensible and reasonable” gun-control laws like banning .50 caliber “sniper rifles” and letting the FBI have access to gun-sales records.

This group’s executive director is Bob Ricker, who has testified in favor of many gun-ban laws for the Brady Center, and John Rosenthal, president of the AHSA Foundation, who founded the Massachusetts Stop Handgun Violence group. Massachusetts is famous for its drastic gun-control laws, but Rosenthal wanted even tougher laws there.

Beware of this group and any other that sounds good. Check them out, make sure they aren’t gun banners in hunter camouflage. You might not think the ban on .50 caliber “sniper rifles” will affect you if you don’t own one, but the way the law was first written in some states it would have banned those dangerous, sniper .50 caliber muzzleloaders and shotgun slugs.

Pay attention to gun laws. They may affect you in ways that will surprise you.