Major Gun Control Bill in Congress

GOA Alert: Anti-gun Rep. Carolyn McCarthy introduced H.R. 297, the most massive expansion of the Brady law since it passed in 1993. This bill was killed last year, but the new House leadership appears even more eager to pass it. This bill provides grants, about $1 billion, to the states to "provide the National Instant Criminal Background Check System [NICS] with all records concerning persons who are prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm under subsection (g) or (n), section 922, title 18, United States Code, regardless of the elapsed time since the disqualifying event."

The bill expands upon the unconstitutional Lautenberg misdemeanor gun ban [922 (g)(9)]. This gun ban, passed as an amendment to a 1996 omnibus spending bill and signed into law by Clinton, was originally introduced by leading anti-gun Senators Frank Lautenberg, Dianne Feinstein, and Edward Kennedy. Under the Lautenberg ban, people who have committed very minor offenses that include pushing, shoving or, in some cases, merely yelling at a family member can no longer own a firearm for self-defense. The Lautenberg gun ban should be repealed, not expanded.

The bill also seeks to computerize records of persons "underindictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year." Such persons, though not even convicted of the crime in question, are prohibited from possessing a firearm.The gun grabbers are seeking to force the states to provide the federal government all of these indictment records, updated quarterly. Given the maxim among those in the legal profession that prosecutors can get a grand jury to "indict a ham sandwich," this,too, is a gun prohibition that should be repealed, not expanded. Mental health records are also covered under the McCarthy bill. The fact that metal health 'experts,' a notoriously anti-gun community, would have a say in who is allowed to possess a firearm is frightening. Many in the profession would just as soon consider anyone who owns a gun as 'mentally incompetent.' Another sobering thought is how computerized data are often mishandled.

The Brady law needs to be repealed, not expanded to allow anti-gun administrations to find new ways to strip citizens of their Second Amendment rights. ACTION: contact your representative immediately and spread the word about H.R. 297! Visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Representative a pre-written e-mail message. And, you can call your Representative free at 1-877-762-8762 Read More

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