As suspected after almost farcical House Judiciary Committee hearings—hearings where pro-gun voices like that of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., were silenced—two gun control bills have advanced to the floor of the House of Representatives. The time to make our concerns heard is now.
The bills are H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112—which include provisions that would do nothing to stop criminals from getting their hands on guns, but instead would make it more cumbersome for law-abiding citizens to exercise their Second Amendment right.
H.R. 8 focuses on so-called “universal” background checks. The thing is, we know that this bill won’t affect how criminals get their guns and similar state legislation has been shown to be completely ineffective.
You can learn more about the fallacies of the background check proposal here.
H.R. 1112 is more troubling because it expands the federal government’s reach so that it can block lawful gun sales. It sets out to eliminate the three-day “safety valve” in current federal law, which gives licensed gun dealers the option to proceed with a sale if no answer is received from the National Instant Background Check System after three business days. By allowing an indefinite delay in the purchase of firearms, the bill is an undoubted infringement on the rights of law-abiding citizens—the very type of infringement the Second Amendment protects against.
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