AWB Removed From Base Gun Control Bill in Senate

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Bartholomew Roberts

Moderator
http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/19/reid-shoots-down-feinstein-gun-ban-bill/

Please don't get complacent. What happened is Feinstein was told that her AWB (S. 150) will not be part of the "base gun control bill" offered by Dems. This means that the bill that gets a floor vote will not have AWB language in it. However, Feinstein can still offer her bill as an amendment to this bill (or any other gun bill) and if she has the votes (50 or 60 depending on the procedural tactics used) it will become part of whatever bill she tries to attach it to.

The reason they did this is because the Dem leadership really wants registration and they are afraid that putting the AWB in the base bill will kill all of their gun control - and cause them to lose Senate races in 2014.

The game here is with the AWB separate, your not-so-Second-Amendment-friendly Senators can tell you in 2014: "I support the Second Amendment and voted against gun and magazine bans; however I continue to support reasonable, common-sense gun laws like (having you stupid hillbillies tell me what guns and magazines you own so that after I'm re-elected I can fix that) universal background checks."
 
Apparently the Universal Background Check bill will also not be a part of it either.

http://www.therightsphere.com/2013/03/obama-we-demand-a-vote-harry-reid-um-yeah-about-that/

Democrat insiders say the universal background check, supported only by Democrats, will not head to the floor either.
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You are correct, it's not time to get complacent, but this news is a big victory for gun rights. It appears that Harry Reid is an unlikely ally for gun rights. If registration were the plan, Reid won't kill UBC. Although we have nothing concrete, it looks like UBC won't have it's day on the floor either. I think it's almost as "radioactive" as the AWB is. Reid also knows, that being a purple state democrat, he needs these bills dead if he wants an even longer career in the Senate.
 
Let's hope the insider commentary is right as S.374 is much worse than just background checks and worse than any AWB. However, we still have to be alert and aware of amendments.
 
Agreed. We won't know for sure until the gun control package actually hits the Senate floor next week. I'm hoping that Reid's actions here kill any significant gun control law proposals for a while.
 
I don't feel real warm and fuzzy about universal background checks, but even that is preferable to registration. Registration is the first step on the road to confiscation.

The irony is that, in the days of the Founders, we had registration. Every able-bodied adult male was a member of the militia, and the commanding officer of each militia unit obviously needed to know what arms his troop would have at its disposal. Since in those days each member of the militia supplied his own rifle and basic ammo load, that meant that the militia commander had a registration of what his men kept at home for weaponry.

If I could actually believe that my state and/or local police department wanted to know if I have an AR-15 so they'd know who to call up in the event of a zombie invasion, I would support that. Unfortunately, I don't think that's quite what they have in mind.
 
I didn't see a whole lot of registration in Schumer's BG Check bill, but you may want to read it Aguila. It's a train wreck. Gifts between immediate family are allowed, but transfers are not. So letting your kid shoot the 22 you own while he learns to shoot responsibly becomes a crime. You have to give him his own 22, he has to store it, etc. If you go plinking in the desert or national forest, you can't give anyone with you a turn shooting your newest aquisition (or any to be technical).
 
While this initially sounds good I wonder if we would have been better off if the AWB proposals were left in the bill. Without it I think the main thing left is the ban on magazine capacity and this could make it much easier for some Senators to vote for those restrictions. They can now say they voted for “reasonable restrictions” without denying anyone the right to own a specific firearm.

Also, from a purely strategic standpoint restricting magazine capacity of rifles to ten rounds would significantly impact their popularity which might make them easier to ban down the road.
 
I don't feel real warm and fuzzy about universal background checks, but even that is preferable to registration. Registration is the first step on the road to confiscation.
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UBC's could be the precursor to registration. Once checks are mandatory there will eventually be a bill or amendment to allow ATF to maintain records of when and who a NICS check was run on. Death by a thousand cuts? Be watchful.
 
How do I "give" someone a firearm without "transferring" it?
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I mean you can't temporarily loan your kid YOUR 22 under your supervision on a day/camping trip to the Natl Forest, or desert or unincorporated area. You have to buy them one of their own as a gift. Gifts can go back and forth all day long, but Dad can't take Jr Shooting, then take the gun away again afterwards so Jr doesn't have it unsupervised.
 
I don't feel real warm and fuzzy about universal background checks, but even that is preferable to registration.
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I can't see any sort of universal background check system working without registration.

How would law enforcement know a background check was conducted? That information would have to be recorded in some sort of persistent storage.

So yeah, it doesn't use the word, but registration is implicit.
 
This does 2 things:
1. Democratic politicians in pro gun states do not have to vote on the AWB and it could help them come election time.

2. Sets up a compromise chip to get on the fence, weak pro gun politicians the opportunity to cave on the UBC (which is a gun registry scam).

Also, the longer it went the more distasteful the random list of guns became.
 
It looks like the bill increasing penalties for gun trafficking and the school safety funding will pass the Senate but the renewal of the AWB is dead.
 
This is a huge victory, but as said, it will not end. Guard the back door just as well as the front!

Back to writing my Reps!!







But...why I gotta be a stupid hillbilly?
 
You can expect heavy pressure for state laws like NY or CO to be passed.

The only reasonable stop is another round in the SCOTUS and perhaps this time Scalia and friends won't be so loose with reasonable restrictions.
 
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