Posted on 10/17/2005 12:17:14 PM PDT by neverdem
www.gunowners.org
Oct 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
Last week, a bill containing a mandatory trigger lock requirement looked to be dormant on Capitol Hill. The prevailing wisdom was that the bill was dead for the year.
However, given the mercurial nature of legislation and legislative bodies, one can never be certain of what is going to happen as long as Congress is in session. One event that can always shake up the legislative calendar is experiencing a leadership change -- such as when pro-gun House Majority Leader Tom DeLay stepped down from his position recently.
What we do know at this point is that the bill is before the Rules Committee today, and will most likely reach the House floor sometime this week.
The underlying bill would help protect the firearms industry from frivolous lawsuits brought by cities, municipalities, and radical anti-gun interest groups.
Unfortunately, the bill was amended on the Senate floor in July by anti-gun Democrat Senator Herb Kohl (WI), who added language requiring licensed gun dealers to supply a trigger lock device with every handgun sold.
House leadership is now being pressured to quickly adopt the Senate version of the bill instead of taking up its own bill, which contains no gun control.
While it is imperative that the Congress pass legislation to protect the firearms industry, this bill should not be used as a vehicle for a misguided gun control proposal.
The Kohl amendment would effectively impose a "gun tax" on all handgun purchases.
Worse, the amendment leads gun owners to the verge of mandatory trigger lock usage, which would actually endanger lives by rendering self-defense firearms useless. While the amendment does not require that gun owners use trigger locks at this point, it is easy to see how trigger locks, like automobile seatbelts or motorcycle helmets, can quickly become compulsory.
Mandatory trigger locks has long been part of the agenda of anti-gun zealots. Though masquerading as a modest step, the amendment will inevitably serve as a stepping-stone to more onerous legislation.
The House bill, introduced by Florida Congressman Cliff Stearns, could potentially help protect the gun industry, but it would do so without saddling American gun owners with yet another gun control law.
H.R. 800, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, garnered well over 250 cosponsors and would pass the House easily if the leadership would bring up this bill rather than its Senate counterpart. In that case, the bill would either go to a joint House-Senate conference, where the different bills would be reconciled, or back to the Senate, forcing that chamber to either pass a clean bill or explain to voters their refusal to protect the beleaguered gun industry.
ACTION: Please ask your Representative to urge the House leadership to take up H.R. 800, which contains no gun control proposals, rather than its Senate counterpart. As GOA is the only national gun lobby insisting on a completely clean bill, it would be very helpful if you would circulate this alert widely throughout the pro-gun community.
You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Representative a pre-written e-mail message such as the one below.
Or, you can call your Representative toll-free at 877-762-8762.
Dear Representative:
I am saddened that the House is on the verge of passing gun control in the name of protecting the gun industry. The House should ditch S. 397 and use its own bill, H.R. 800, instead.
H.R. 800, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, garnered well over 250 cosponsors and would pass the House easily if the leadership would bring up this bill rather than its Senate counterpart.
But S. 397 is gun control pure and simple. The Kohl trigger lock amendment would effectively impose a "gun tax" on all handgun purchases. Worse, the amendment leads gun owners to the verge of mandatory trigger lock usage, which would actually endanger lives by rendering self-defense firearms useless.
While the amendment does not require that gun owners use trigger locks at this point, it is easy to see how trigger locks, like automobile seatbelts or motorcycle helmets, can quickly become compulsory.
Mandatory trigger locks has long been part of the agenda of anti-gun zealots. Though masquerading as a modest step, the amendment will inevitably serve as a stepping-stone to more onerous legislation.
Please tell the Speaker and the Majority Leader of the House that S. 397 is unacceptable to gun owners. Instead, send H.R. 800 to the Senate or tack it on as an amendment to some "must pass" legislation.
Sincerely,
bump
I'm not sure how big a deal this is, considering that the manufacturers seem to be putting these trigger locks on their new guns anyway, without government compulsion. I just bought a Taurus revolver a couple of weeks ago. All of the revolvers I looked at had these locks.
Anybody want to buy a couple of external trigger locks? Condition is "like new."
I will never use a trigger lock so Piss off :)
I think the analogies with eventual mandatory seatbelt and motorcycle helmet usage are correct.
I wonder what the position of the gun manufacturers is. Since S&W and Taurus are putting the locks on their guns anyway, they probably want their competition to do so as well.
And I think Taurus owns the patent, so they probably make money every time a gun is sold.
The realpolitik choice gun owners have is to pay Master Lock for a trigger lock (One that will lock the back fence or, at worst, just end up in the trash.) or we can pay lawyers. One of those costs will get rolled into the cost of a new gun. In the long run, locks are cheaper.
...or we can "stand on principle" and get bulldozed in a liberal court.
I'm not trying to be a smart___, but I already own several firearms where you could not fit a trigger lock even if you wanted to. What's to become of them if this nonsense becomes "law of the land"?
It pains me to say this but this is the only legislation that I can recall being influenced by Kohl in any fashion since he has been in the Senate and it sucks. The man is wealthy by anyone's standard and a businessman. One would think he would have been a conservative but it was all "old" money and he is liberal as any Gotham city pol. The only good thing I can think to say about the old fossil is that he is totally ineffective and unproductive as a Senator. That said, that nasty little @#$^% Fiengold is my other Senator. Almost makes me want to move.
Regards,
GtG
Though masquerading as a modest step, the amendment will inevitably serve as a stepping-stone to more onerous legislation.
I have several unused trigger locks that were provided with guns I bought several years ago. Need one?
damn it, the Donks pulled the same kind of stunt the last time this type of bill came up.
riders and bill amendments should be proscribed.
Get the liability law passed and forget about the trigger locks. We can worry about those later if they become a problem.
We need to stop these gun lawsuits.
Then we can work on the instant check. heh heh heh
Re your first comment: right on. Congress critters know form stuff when they see it. I suspect they are much more influenced by someone's letter explaining, in his/her words, why they would prefer they vote this or that way.
Recognize humor or irony when you see it. IMHO, you need a trigger lock for your brain, your mouth, or your key typing finger.
Mine are used for a outside door knockers.
"Maryland has had a mandatory trigger lock provision for years. It adds to the cost of purchasing a handgun but otherwise has no effect"
Car makers first had to supply safety belts on all cars.
Next seat belt became mandatory but without fines for noncompliance.
Then fines became mandatory.
Now you have "safety" check days where the government targets those not wearing seat belts, just like drunk drivers.
mandatory trigger locks, then a law that says you have to have a lock on your gun at all times.
i can see it now, bad uy comes up to mug you in a dark alley, you whip out your carry gun and keys and start fumbling with the lock.. BANG yer dead.
or maybe you're out in the woods, and being charged by a grizzy, out comes your .500s&w revolver and your keys and you fumble with the lock.. ROAR yer dead.
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