Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Congress is attempting to pass “red flag” gun confiscation orders and other gun control measures in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA).
For years the gun measures have held up negotiations on the bill in the Senate, but it seems like Republicans are ready to cave in pass the bill with the gun control measures intact. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said that they see “a path forward” on the bill with the anti-gun provisions in place.
The bill has been one of the centerpieces of President Joe Biden’s anti-gun plan. On the day that Biden announced the David Chipman nomination for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director, the president pushed Congress to pass the bill. He framed it as a way to protect women from abusers.
“I held over a thousand hours of hearings to pass the Violence Against Women Act… this has been a hobbyhorse of mine for a long time — got it done once,” Biden told the media during the Chipman announcement.
The bill would establish federal grants to fund firearm seizures from Americans. These grants would be given to states to support the stripping of firearms from the State’s citizens. The bill would also create another category of “red flag” laws that would expand gun confiscations to people convicted of just a misdemeanor.
The bill would also increase funding to prosecute National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) denials. The vast majority of denials are false positives. Roughly 95% of denials are false positives. The funding would burden tens of thousands of law-abiding American gun owners that the system falsely flagged as prohibited.
One of the most concerning parts of the bill is that it provides special appointments and deputations to carry out the gun control measures listed in the proposed law. Many gun-rights advocates see these special appointments as a way of building a new anti-gun force that will violate the firearms rights of Americans. They point out that nothing in the bill makes women safer.
There has been some push back on the bill by Senators Josh Hawley or (R-MO), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and John Cornyn (R-TX). None of the pushback from the Senators centers around the built-in gun control measures. The lack of pushback against the anti-gun efforts concerns many gun rights activists who hoped Republicans would reject the gun control in the bill.
During the hearings in the Senate, Democrats were confident that the bill would be passed with the anti-gun measures intact. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) was all smiles at the end of the hearing on VAWA. He believes that the bill will pass with a filibuster-proof majority. With no filibuster in the House of Representatives, the bill cannot be stopped in that chamber of Congress.
“I look forward to introducing the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act [Senate Compromise Bill] with Senators Ernst, and Feinstein, [and] many of our colleagues, quickly,” Durbin said at the end of the hearing. “We want to move on this. We need to get this bill to a president who is ANXIOUS to receive it as well and sign it into authorization.”
Concerned gun owners have time to encourage their Senators to vote against the VAWA, but time is limited. Right now, it looks like the VAWA has the votes to pass in the Senate with the gun control measures intact.
https://www.ammoland.com/2021/10/gun-control-on-the-verge-of-passing-in-the-senate/#axzz78Z6B8Ke0