United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- Even during the current pandemic, some anti-Second Amendment extremists are looking for ways to attack our rights. This should come as no surprise, after all, Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, famously said that a crisis should never be wasted.
Well, unfortunately, Representative Mike Quigley (D-IL) has stepped up in this regard. Loyal AmmoLand News readers would be familiar with this name, as a past piece of legislation he introduced, the Trafficking Reduction And Criminal Enforcement Act, also known as HR 4255, was discussed here earlier. This time, we are discussing HR 6453, a bill with no catchy title, but one that will be used to attack our Second Amendment rights indirectly.
Officially, it is titled, “To direct the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to report the number of background checks conducted by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System during the month of March 2019 and during the COVID-19 public health emergency, and for other purposes.” That’s 43 words, and Quigley is hoping that nobody will take too close a look because of the lack of a catchy title.
Now, this bill just requires the creation of a report. You might think this is not a big deal, but if you look at the actual text of the legislation, you will quickly find that Quigley’s intentions are to shift the political landscape to make it easier to infringe on our rights. Thus, this bill is an indirect attack on our rights.
What Quigley wants is to get at what they call “default proceeds” – instances where the National Instant Check System tells the Federal Firearms License holder to delay a transaction. Now, in many cases, the delay gets resolved, but if it is not resolved within three business days, the FFL can go ahead and transfer the firearm. It's not ideal, but it beats having an indefinite wait (which would be established by the Urban Progress Act of 2020) or the lengthy waits for a license that can turn fatal (see New Jersey for a tragic example).
In addition, having that relatively short time limit means that a person seeking to buy a firearm from a federally licensed dealer still has a presumption of innocence. When one looks at various proposals for firearms licensing, whether from Cory Booker, Sheila Jackson Lee, Bobby Rush, or Elizabeth Warren, the common thread between them is that those who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights are treated like common criminals.
The findings of the bill layout his so-called rationale for this legislation. Once he gets that report and those figures, he will then claim that a “loophole” exists that can only be closed with either an extended waiting period or a licensing scheme. Given that Quigley has co-sponsored various anti-Second Amendment bills, including the House version of Warren’s monstrosity, the 3D Printed Gun Safety Act, and the Disarm Hate Act, he really does not warrant the benefit of the doubt from Second Amendment supporters.
As such, the only rational course of action is for Second Amendment supporters to contact their Representative and Senators and to polite urge them to defeat HR 6453. We should not see our tax dollars used to create fodder for anti-Second Amendment propaganda.
