November 11, 2020
By Keith Wood
When this issue is scheduled to appear on newsstands, the 2020 election will be some 30 days away. In a number of states, early and absentee voting are already underway. Making electoral predictions months in advance is a bad idea, so there won’t be any of those here. Instead it is time to focus on the Biden-Harris campaign’s stated positions on our Second Amendment rights. Though former Vice President Biden is attempting to appear as a centrist to undecided and unaffiliated voters, his policy proposals on gun control are anything but. Don’t believe me? Let’s visit the source: joebiden.com/gunsafety .
The “gun safety” section of Biden’s website is 11 pages long, so I can only hit the highlights. After reviewing Biden’s gun control bona fides, which include passage of the 1994 gun ban as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the site dives into several subjects. The first proposal is the repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which became law in 2005 to protect America’s gunmakers from predatory lawsuits. Repealing the law will allow states and cities to team-up with plaintiffs’ lawyers to sue firearms and ammunition manufacturers for the illegal use of their products in the hands of criminals. As corporations go, America’s firearm-related companies are relatively small. The cost of defending against frivolous litigation would quickly bankrupt even the largest of them.
Biden also plans to push Congress for a ban on so-called “assault weapons” and “high-capacity magazines,” as well as ban their import through executive order. You may be thinking, “I’ve already got mine,” but not so fast. Biden’s plan “will give individuals who now possess assault weapons or high-capacity magazines two options: sell the guns to the government, or register them under the National Firearms Act,” according to the site. Biden’s plan is to regulate millions of legally-owned firearms and tens of millions of accessories into the same government classification as machine guns and hand grenades.
Obtaining a tax stamp for NFA registration costs $200 per item and currently takes 10 to 12 months. With the forced registration of millions of firearms and accessories, the NFA system will be backed up for years. Will there be a $200-per-magazine tax? Failure to register a single magazine or firearm could land you a federal felony conviction, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Possession of unregistered NFA items is a “strict liability” crime, so ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Had enough? Individuals will be prohibited from purchasing more than one firearm per month. Sorry collectors, you will be regarded as “stockpilers.” Nearly all firearm transfers will be subject to mandatory background checks and convictions of certain misdemeanor crimes will prohibit individuals from possessing firearms — for life. States will be financially incentivized to impose “Red Flag” laws and require permits to purchase firearms.
Online sales of firearms (which are already required to go through a licensed dealer) will be outlawed, as will the online sale of ammunition. Gun parts? Online sales of those would be banned, too, under Biden’s plan.
Biden’s policy positions are clear and unequivocal. Even so, when an American worker at an automotive plant challenged Biden on his gun-control proposals on March 10, 2020, Biden told the voter “You’re full of sh**. I support the Second Amendment.” Really? He should read his own website.
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