I applaud Congressman Hudson of NC (Sponsor) and Congressmen Issa and Hunter (Co-Sponsors) for voting for HR 38 yesterday. While HR 38 is not a defense of the Second Amendment, it does let the CCW permit holders (I call them “gun club members”) carry anywhere in this country. The hitch is that they must have a statist’s permission from a gun-friendly jurisdiction.
This is a good practice–expanding the right to bear arms. Why then did 19 Republicans vote against the bill? A bunch of those Republicans were Blue State members so I get their opposition but Justin Amash, Thomas Massie, and Ken Buck were on that list. Amash and Massie are staunch defenders of the Constitution and Ken Buck was elected in 2014 by pushing back on Colorado’s gun ownership restrictions. Why would Amash, Massie, and Buck vote against HR 38? (Buck co-sponsored the bill)
Buck said this:
“I strongly supported the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, but could not vote for it in this combined bill,” Buck said in a statement to Denver7 following the vote. “I have concerns that the NICS portion of the legislation places Americans at risk for having their Second Amendment rights stripped without due process.”
Amash said this:
I voted no on #HR38 because I support the right to keep and bear arms. H R 38 includes two separate bills: the Fix NICS Act of 2017 and the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is used to enforce federal laws prohibiting broad classes of people from purchasing guns—including people who have never been convicted of any crime. People can be added to NICS and have their right to purchase a gun permanently denied without any judicial oversight, and if someone is added inaccurately, correcting NICS records can require fighting a bureaucratic appeals system with massive backlogs, or hiring an attorney to sue the government.
Massie sounded the alarm on Breitbart:
Massie explains that the Obama-style gun controls are contained in the “fix-NICS” legislation, the very legislation that House Leadership “plans to merge” with H.R. 38. He used a Facebook post to explain the “fix-NICS” legislation would allow “agencies, not just courts, to adjudicate your second amendment rights.”
Stated plainly, HR 38 was a big compromise with the gun grabbers. It protects “ gun club members” but it is not a defense of the Second Amendment. Less than 5% of Americans have a concealed carry permit. Most gun owners just want the right to carry their firearm and don’t want the hassle (or invasion of privacy) of a CCW permit. HR 38 MAY make it harder for Americans to exercise that right (unless they have an existing CCW permit). How could the bill make it harder?
The devil is in the details and, in the details, was a compromise with the gun grabbers’ bill (HR 4477). HR 4477 enlarges a database of people ‘forbidden” the keep and bear arms and, worst of all, you can be entered into that database without your 5th and 14th Amendment protections of due process. Let me give you some examples of people who MAY be denied their Second Amendment rights now:
— some black or brown kids, who live in a poor zip code, won’t be able to purchase a firearm when they are 18.
— citizens unfairly accused of domestic violence charges
— if you’re a young man who wears Tupac t shirts
–– a combat veteran who spoke to a psychiatrist at the VA hospital
— a social security recipient whom an agency employee deemed “unfit”
I don’t think anyone wants violent felons and/or insane people to carry a weapon but those Americans actually have a constitutional right to due process. HR 38 expands the power of unelected bureaucrats (not judges), to restrict Second Amendment rights, based on a personal whim or gut feeling, not due process.
Is HR 38 bad? Absolutely not. While it’s protection is limited to the “gun club members”, it is a step in the right direction. Merging it with HR4477 though MAY have created a back-door for gun grabbing on future generations of Americans. I am thankful to the House members who passed this bill but it is intellectually dishonest to criticize the constitutionalists Amash, Massie, and Buck for their opposition.
We don’t need two classes of Americans. #AllGunOwnersMatter