Gun Registry Bill Draws Massive Resistance (H.R.45)

OpenCongress.org ^ | Feb. 18, 2009 | Donny Shaw

[rvoitier]

Gun lovers ain't gonna like it.

[rvoitier]

OpenCongress Blog

Gun Registry Bill Draws Massive Resistance

February 18, 2009 - by Donny Shaw

With the election of Barack Obama in November came anxiety among gun owners that the constitutional right to bear arms would be curtailed. As the rest of the economy slumped, gun and ammunition sales surged following the election. Now there is a specific piece of legislation in Congress that gun-rights activists have identified as the leading threat – the Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Rush [D, IL-1], would establish a federal gun licensing and registry program that would help the government track information on gun ownership and gun sales across the country. It would apply to handguns and all rifles with a “detachable ammunition feeding device.”

Currently, this kind of registry is specifically banned under U.S. Code, so the bill proposes to undo a provision enacted by the 99th Congress under President Reagan, which reads:

No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of the enactment of the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof, nor that any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or dispositions be established.

Along with the federal registry, the bill also proposes a federal licensing requirement for all gun owners. In order to get a license, a person would have to submit a photo, thumbprint, their address, a release of their mental health records, and more to the United States Attorney General. Current gun owners would have two years to acquire a license or forfeit their guns to the government.

There are several other controversial provisions in the legislation, including the ability for the Attorney General to, “during regular business hours, enter any place in which firearms or firearm products are manufactured, stored, or held, for distribution in commerce, and inspect those areas where the products are so manufactured, stored, or held.”

It would also add a new “child access prevention” provision to U.S. law making it “unlawful for any person to keep a loaded firearm, or an unloaded firearm and ammunition for the firearm, any 1 of which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, within any premises that is under the custody or control of that person” if that person knows that a child could potentially acquire the firearm. Notice the “interstate commerce” language here that places this in Congress’ jurisdiction under Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution. Similar language can be found in the bill’s “similar bill was introduced by Rep. Rush in the last session of Congress, but it was never considered by committee. Like last year’s version, the a href=”http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/show”>Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 is currently sitting in the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security with no legislative action planned.

For a bill that has received so little attention from Congress, it has received an incredible amount of attention from the public. In just the past 7 days, 35,769 people have viewed its page on OpenCongress. It’s also the second-most news. It’s gotten all this attention at the same time that the country’s focus on Congress has been firmly fixed on the $787 billion stimulus bill, nonetheless. One more thing – the bill’s standing among OpenCongress users as of this writing: 24 in favor – 1138 opposed.

[TChris]

It would apply to handguns and all rifles with a “detachable ammunition feeding device.”

It's always a good idea to keep your ammunition well-fed.

[Centurion2000]

That’s because this is the EXTREME bill. After hearing all of the protests they will inevitably come up with a ‘watered down’ AWB or gun control law that moderates will claim is a ‘compromise’ or some other such bullsh!t.

[Red in Blue PA]

I will not speak of what I think should happen to people who would violate the US Constitution in such a way.

[BenLurkin]

Registration came early in Hitler's program. It later turned to confiscation and made his atrocities easy against an unarmed population.

In America, such a scheme should never survive judicial scrutiny.

[aureliusss]

This won’t pass.

[Red in Blue PA]

“After hearing all of the protests they will inevitably come up with a ‘watered down’ AWB or gun control law that moderates will claim is a ‘compromise’ or some other such bullsh!t.”

THAT is the danger here; not HR 45 itself.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

A friend of ours went to Cabellas last weekend, a lot of ammo in on backorder.

[TChris]

That’s because this is the EXTREME bill. After hearing all of the protests they will inevitably come up with a ‘watered down’ AWB or gun control law that moderates will claim is a ‘compromise’ or some other such bullsh!t.

Exactly.

That's the way it works, and it has worked for a very long time.

Dems ask for/demand far more than they expect and "settle" for about what they were really after to begin with. Republican feebs fall for this every single time and pat themselves on the back for compromising and playing nice.

[clamper1797]

I will not speak of what I think should happen to people who would violate the US Constitution in such a way.

Tar and feathers comes to mind ...

[ConservaTexan]

I just asked this on another thread, but since it applies I will ask it here as well.

Since we are no longer using the Constitution, can I have it?

[DungeonMaster]

This is shocking!

[pabianice]

It would also add a new “child access prevention” provision to U.S. law making it “unlawful for any person to keep a loaded firearm, or an unloaded firearm and ammunition for the firearm, any 1 of which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, within any premises that is under the custody or control of that person” if that person knows that a child could potentially acquire the firearm.

IOW, no one who at any time has a child in his house would be allowed to have a firearm and ammunition. IOW, everybody.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

I'm waiting for the Revolution to commence.

[ecomcon]

Biden, claiming to be a gun-owner himself who likes “that little over and under,” called that notion bogus.

“Barack Obama ain’t taking my shotguns, so don't buy that malarkey,” he said. “If he tries to fool with my Beretta, he's got a problem.”

Waiting for Joe "six-gun" Biden to give Obama a big time "problem".

[DungeonMaster]

Bobby Rush sucks!

[deannadurbin]

Never say never.

[KC Burke]

It would be interesting to get a translation of the bill that was enacted after Hitler came to power and compare the wording

[Red in Blue PA]

Did the Cabela’s in East Rutherford NJ open up yet?

Honestly, I cannot believe they are building one in NJ when there is a big part of the south which has nary a one.

[DungeonMaster]

Good point, all they really want to do is move the bar a little.