Guest Editorial-Opinion: Time For Sportsmen To Stand Up For 2nd Amendment

“Now that Democrats have taken over all three branches of government, they are going to pass gun-ban laws and confiscate all your guns.”

“Now that Democrats have taken over all three branches of government, they are going to pass reasonable gun laws that prevent gun crime.”

Listen to either side on gun control, and you are likely to hear one of the above. The truth may lie somewhere between the two, but based on the first months of the new administration, gun owners should be on high alert. House Resolution 8, the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021,” is the first effort of the new regime. It says its purpose is to “ensure individuals prohibited from gun purchase or possession are not able to obtain firearms.”

Of course, that was the same purpose of the original Brady Background Check law introduced by Chuck Schumer and passed in 1993. It was supposed to solve all the problems this current bill is now supposed to solve.

The original background check applied to all commercial sales. The new one is supposed to close the “gun show loophole,” the ability of an individual to sell their personal firearms to other people. The new law would prevent that without a background check.

How does this affect you? If you advertise a gun in the GON Classifieds and find a buyer, you would not be able to sell your gun to them. You would first have to find a licensed firearm dealer and turn your gun over to them. They would then run a background check on the buyer and sell the gun to them. In theory, they would then give you the money for the gun.

According to Jim Berry at Berry’s Sporting Goods in Griffin, the gun dealer will have to log the gun into his Acquisition and Distribution book (A&D book), check with law enforcement to make sure the gun is not stolen, and then log the gun out to the buyer—a lot of paper and computer work.

How much will that cost? If the free market is allowed to set the price, I have heard $30 to $100 estimated. If the government sets the price, it may cost more than the gun. Or the government could set the price the dealer gets so low that it’s not worth their time.

A good “tell” about a law is its length. The 2nd Amendment is 27 words long. HR 8 contains almost three pages of single-spaced text to try to get around the 2nd Amendment.

HR 8 is full of exceptions, another good tell about how bad the law really is. Family members are exempted, as are law enforcement, loaning a gun to a friend on a shooting range or while hunting, transfer to a will executor and taking a gun from a family member you consider dangerous. And if you give your gun to a licensed firearm dealer and it does not sell, they are “allowed” to return it to you.

Merrick Garland has been approved as Biden’s Attorney General, in charge of enforcing federal laws. Garland stated, “The role of the Justice Department is to advance the policy program of the administration as long as it is consistent with the law.”

So what are Biden’s policy goals? Here are just a few from his website joebiden.com:

• Hold gun manufacturers accountable.
• Get weapons of war off our streets.
• Ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
• Regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act.
• Reduce stockpiling of weapons.
• End online sale of firearms and ammunition.

Just look at just the goals addressed in HR 8. What else is coming? And considering the rest of the Biden goals, how will Garland interpret these laws to make it more difficult to own guns?  Will he go after you and the FFL holder if the gun you sold is later stolen and used in a crime? Their first goal listed is to allow gun manufacturers and sellers to be sued if a gun they make or sell is used in a crime.

Maybe it’s time sportsmen become extremists on the side of the 2nd Amendment.

Read the text of HR 8 at congress.gov and decide for yourself. This has passed the House and is in the Senate, awaiting action. If the Senate passes it as is, it will become law when Biden signs it. Then read HR 1446… it would allow unelected government bureaucrats to indefinitely delay firearm purchases for law-abiding Americans.

Editor’s Note: Ronnie Garrison is a longtime writer for GON and has authored a column on the 2nd Amendment and threats to gun owners.