A FEW FACTS NEWSWEEK CHOSE TO LEAVE OUT OF THEIR RECENT ARTICLE

Newsweek Prints An Extremely Biased Article

Newsweek is very upset that the draconian gun bills they support have failed to pass, even when Democrats controlled Congress.  One would hope that such an article would include most of the relevant facts - but instead Newsweek has chosen to deceive its' readers.

Newsweek left out the following facts:

1) The fact that after two landmark SCOTUS decisions, firearms ownership, and likely the right to carry, are constitutional rights.  These two rulings take many proposed gun laws off of the table - yet gun control advocates continue to introduce bills as if these two decisions never took place.  One bill that got two full paragraphs in the article, the so called "terror gap" bill, was so clearly unconstitutional it was openly opposed by the ACLU!!!!  One would think that Newsweek would inform its' readers of this fact - but, of course, it was omitted.

2) In regards to the The Manchin-Toomey Bill (2013), Newsweek omits the fact that one of the "big three" gun rights groups (The Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms) actually was on the inside, helping Senators Manchin and Toomey write a bill that gun rights advocates could support.  Manchin-Toomey didn't fail because the gun rights movement was being unreasonable - it failed because it did nothing to fix the broken background check database (something the NRA and gun industry association have been working on for years) and because it simply did not contain enough pro-gun rights provisions.  Politics is the art of compromise - and gun control advocates refused to compromise.   Compromise is when both sides get something they want - not when one side simply decides to take less from the other side.

If they had included some form of CCW reciprocity, it would have passed.  Instead, since that time two appeals courts have ruled that the 2nd Amendment protects not only a right to own firearms for self defense, but the right to carry them for self defense as well.  Both Illinois and Washington DC were ordered to issue permits to anyone passing the background check and training.   Both chose not to appeal out of fear that a national right to carry would be set.  Gun control groups are so inflexible (and foolish) that they refuse to play this card before they lose it.  SCOTUS seems to be waiting to decide this, perhaps hope that politicians will render the issue mute - but failing that, eventually they will have to decide the issue.

3) In regards to the Automatic Gunfire Prevention Act (2017) (Bump Stock Bill) Newsweek intentionally omits the following:

a) The fact that the NRA has come out in favor of bump stock regulation - but believes that no new laws are needed.  They believe that the BATFE was in error when they approved these devices.  The BATFE is currently in the process of revisiting this issue.  Even the reliably anti-gun rights USA Today reported this - but Newsweek left its' readers in the dark.

b) The fact that this bill was written so broadly, that it would have enabled the federal government to ban all semi-auto rifles and many accessories used on other rifles.  Instead of simply defining and banning specific devices, the bill contains language banning anything that "increases the rate of fire of a semi-automatic rifle".  Here are a few things that fit that definition: Detachable magazines, target triggers, and stripper clips.   Even if these devices are used with rifles that are not semi-automatic, even if you own no semi-auto rifles. if they could be used on any semi-auto rifle ever made, possession would be a federal felony.  In short, Sen. Feinstein attempted to sneak an expansive and almost certainly unconstitutional gun bill through under the banner of "bump stock regulation".  This is why her bill failed.  An honest bump stock ban would have passed.

Now another gun bill is before the Senate, it includes not only CCW reciprocity, but incentivises better reporting to the National Instant Check Database.  It also requires that the Attorney General research and report to congress the number of times bump stocks are used in crime within 180 days.  By that time, we should know if the BATFE is going to regulate these devices as machine guns or not.  If bump stocks were used in Las Vegas - and this is, no matter what you may have heard, an open question - we will find out for sure.  LVPD can and has stonewalled the press on this and other issues.  The are not likely to stonewall the Attorney General.

The other side is free to propose amendments.  Let's see if they are willing to be reasonable or not.