Gun Legislation is a FRAUD !!!

© David Burton 2022

     The gun control legislation recently passed by Congress and signed by the President is nothing but a gigantic fraud perpetrated on the American people by these elected politicians!!!

     This gun control law, enacted at the end of June 2022 will do little to nothing to rein in the rampant gun violence in this country. As I’ve written many times before [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11], the gun violence in this country has spiraled out of control to such an extent that there is now only one realistic solution remaining to ending the ongoing slaughter produced with guns. That solution is: “Repeal of the Second Amendment and the removal of ALL guns from the hands of everyone in this country except for law enforcement and those with an EXTRELY URGENT requirement for the possession of a firearm!

     If the growing number of deaths and injuries in America are to be brought under control, then the gun lovers and gun crazies in this country simply have to give up their precious toys. Sometimes, the time comes when we have to give up a pleasure or privilege for the overall betterment of our society. For most Americans, that time has long since passed with respect to gun ownership and possession. America’s choice ls: We either admit that we don’t care how many Americans are killed and maimed with guns or we get rid of the weapons producing the carnage.

     A report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions analyzes Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) firearm fatality data for 2020 - a year that saw the highest number of gun-related deaths ever recorded by the CDC (up to that year) and a sharp increase in gun homicides.
     The report, A Year in Review: 2020 Gun Deaths in the U.S., illustrates the enormous toll gun violence has in the U.S. Gun violence in the U.S. surged in 2020. Using CDC mortality data, the analysis revealed that overall firearm-related deaths increased by 15% in 2020 to 45,222, the highest number ever recorded by the CDC since it began tracking firearm deaths in 1968. This translates to 124 individuals on average dying from gun violence every day. Firearm homicides increased 35% in 2020, with nearly 5,000 more homicides compared to 2019. While the number of firearm deaths increased to a record level in 2020. As in recent years, gun violence was the leading cause of death for young people under age 25. Young people under 30 were nearly 10 times more likely to die by a firearm than from COVID-19 in 2020.
     Also significant is the fact that in 2020, gun-related homicides disproportionately impacted Black people - and especially Black males - more than their white counterparts. Young Black males represent 2% of the total U.S. population but accounted for approximately 38% of all gun homicide deaths in 2020. Black children and teens face alarmingly high rates of gun victimization. More than half of all Black teens (15-19) who died in 2020 - 52% - were killed by gun violence. Black males ages 15 to 34 were over 20 times more likely to die by gun homicide than their white counterparts. There was a 49% increase in the number of gun homicides among Black females compared to 2019.
     The report also put firearm fatalities in context with other injury fatalities, noting that injuries make up a substantial burden of premature death in the U.S. After overdose and poisoning deaths (97,034), firearm deaths - homicides and suicides (45,222) - were the second-leading cause of injury deaths in 2020, followed by falls (43,292) and motor vehicle traffic (40,698).
     The year 2020 also saw a record number of gun sales. The report cites research that found that nearly twice as many of these new guns showed up at crime scenes in 2020 than in 2019.
     States that had the highest gun death rates in 2020 had stand-your-ground legislation, or laws that authorize individuals to use lethal force even in situations they might have otherwise been able to walk away from. 3 of the 5 states had carry laws that didn’t require a firearm permit, which allow individuals to carry a concealed gun in public without a permit.[12]

     In a headlong rush to appear to be doing something – anything – to address the growing number of mass shootings in the country, “President Biden has signed a new bipartisan gun safety law — the first approved by Congress in almost 30 years. On Friday {24 June 2022}, the House passed the bill by a vote of 234 to 193. Fourteen Republicans joined with the Democratic majority. Biden spoke on Saturday.
     “President Joe Biden: ‘While this bill doesn’t do everything I want, it does include actions I have long called for that are going to save lives. It funds crisis intervention, including red flag laws. It keeps guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves and to others. And it finally closes what is known as the boyfriend loophole. So if you assault your boyfriend or girlfriend, you can’t buy a gun or own a gun.’
     “While gun control groups praised lawmakers for finding a bipartisan solution, the final law does not include a number of initiatives that were included in a separate bill recently approved by House Democrats which aimed to ban the sale of large-capacity magazines and raise the minimum age to purchase an assault weapon from 18 to 21.” (Ref. 13)

     Note that the originally proposed bill in Congress would have banned assault-style rifles for people under 21 and barred certain high-capacity magazines, among other steps. But, it had little chance of getting through the Senate, where Democrats had to win over 10 Republicans to garner the 60 votes needed to break a legislative filibuster. Consequently, the bill was ultimately scaled back and eliminated these provisions.” (Ref. 14)

     Let’s stand back for a moment and consider the history of guns, gun ownership and gun owners’ “rights” here in the United States of America.

     The Second Amendment to America’s Constitution must be understood in the context of the time in which it was proposed. A single shot, muzzle-loading weapon that took more than 60 seconds to arm is quite different from a weapon of war designed not just to kill but to obliterate the victim.
     A wide-open frontier with dangers from the British and other groups attacking, and the necessity for hunting to feed a family is quite different from our current reality. An environment in which a "standing militia" was needed to provide immediate defensive protection is quite different from today's reality of police departments, National Guard units and a large standing military.
     The first 10 Amendments to America’s original Constitution - the so-called Bill of Rights - each had historical antecedents causing many to raise issues that would prevent the approval of the Constitution. Madison worked hard to formulate them and ultimately the document went into effect. There is nothing sacred about anything in the Constitution. Imperfect humans, trying to do the best they could, created a government on paper. No one has the absolute right to own any weapon they want. The good of "The People" supersedes any individual's desires to have what they please.
     America has the Second Amendment and no other Western country has an equivalent in their constitutions. America also continues to have its all too frequent mass killings while the rest of the world rarely experiences such tragedies.
     For many years, it has been painfully clear that the Second Amendment has provided an impenetrable buffer against any sensible gun control legislation. Our politicians, mostly Republicans, hide behind the Second Amendment to justify their stance in blocking any sensible gun laws, and, at the same time, they have their hands out, accepting sickening amounts of campaign money from the National Rifle Association (NRA).
     The only way we will ever curb this utterly predictable carnage in our society is to repeal the Second Amendment or at least revise it to permit “some weapons under certain conditions.” Are we willing to do this? Sadly, the alternative is more of the same – “Only in America.”
     The gun safety law, what a farce! There is nothing new in this law about guns, ammunition, etc. The mental health component in the legislation just reinforces the NRA stance that it is crazy people who kill people, not guns. This is not progress, but a slap in the face to the victims of gun violence and their families.
     To, “provide for the common defense” is in the preamble of U.S. Constitution and is listed as one of the six reasons why, in 1783, the Constitution was written. “Common defense” is what the militia did in those days, and the need for a “a well-regulated militia” was why the Second Amendment was added in 1791. The confusion comes in the last line, which says, “to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” To bear arms? In 1791, arms were borne by the militia. To keep arms? In 1791, arms were kept in the armory of the militia.
     Arms manufacturers and sellers have become wealthy with the help of the Supreme Court’s 2008 mis-interpreting of the 27 words of the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court mis-read these words to mean that the amendment was talking about individual rights, not the militia. That mis-interpretation has been central to the gun-related deaths of more than 30,000 people every year from suicide, accident and murder.[15]

     The newly enacted “gun safety law” will do little to nothing to end the gun violence in America! It is a sham! It is a travesty to pretend that it will solve the problem! The gun lovers of America win again!

     This “new bipartisan gun safety law” is a very narrow set of gun safety measures, which marks the first impotent step towards toughening federal gun laws in nearly three decades. In fact, it does very little in the way of ending gun violence in America!

     The bill requires enhanced background checks for buyers under age 21 and provides some $15 billion in new federal funding for mental health programs and school security upgrades. But the bipartisan compromise falls well short of the broader gun-control measures that have been called for in the wake of recent mass shootings, including an assault weapons ban and restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines.

     The proposed legislation came nearly a month after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Tex., the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. That massacre occurred just 10 days after a racially-motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y. supermarket. There have been 278 mass shootings in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident where four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter. The last time the federal government passed laws aimed at limiting the spread of guns was in 1994.

     Here are the major elements of the new bipartisan “gun safety law” passed by Congress and signed by the President.

     The bill provides $750 million in new federal funding over five years to help states implement crisis intervention programs or so-called “red-flag” laws, which allow authorities to temporarily confiscate guns from people deemed to represent a threat to themselves or others.

     The new law is supposed to close what’s known as the “boyfriend loophole,” a gap in current federal law that bars those convicted of domestic violence from purchasing a firearm only if the victim was either a spouse or partner with whom they lived or had a child. Under the new provision, for the first time, anyone convicted of abusing a current or former dating partner will also be added to the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System and will be unable to purchase firearms.

     The newly enacted law tightens gun purchasing laws by narrowing the definition of a federally licensed firearms dealer in an attempt to crack down on those who illegally evade licensing requirements. It clarifies that an individual who repeatedly buys and sells firearms “to predominantly earn a profit” must register as a Federal Firearm Licensee. It also mandates that dealers conduct background checks and keep appropriate records. In addition, the legislation toughens the criminal penalties for third party gun sales, known as “straw” purchases. Anyone convicted of selling or buying could be fined and imprisoned up to 15 years, according to the law.

     The gun safety law enhances background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21. Authorities will have up to 10 business days to review the juvenile and mental health records of potential gun purchasers in that group, in addition to the standard records from state databases and local law enforcement. In order to facilitate this process, grants will be provided to help states maintain criminal and mental health records.

     The law invests roughly $15 billion in mental health services and school security over the next five years. The legislation launches more than a dozen new initiatives.

     This newly enacted “gun safety law “ is nothing but a “feel good” sham. It may give some a false sense of security and others the fallacy that it will contribute to the reduction of the gun mayhem that is plaguing this nation. To the gun owners and second amendment fanatics, it means more of the same. To all Americans it means still more gun deaths and injuries with guns. To the rest of the world, it once more proves that America is a gun crazy nation that loves guns more than its citizens.

     It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, the new gun-control bill will actually do to stop gun crimes. One thing that it won’t do is to stop gang gun violence in the big cities. The new “gun safety law” calls for enhanced background checks. Will that stop the gun violence by juvenile gangs in Chicago and New York City? Since when do gang members purchase legal firearms? The straw purchase penalties won’t affect gang members either. What kind of mental health records do they have?
     Mass shootings only account for 1% of all gun crimes. The rest are perpetrated by criminals, most of whom do not legally purchase their guns. Enhanced or not, background checks do nothing to stop criminal acquisition of stolen guns on the street. These weren’t addressed in the law.
     The enhanced school security measure called for won’t likely help unless armed guards, key cards and coded locks are added. All those are null and void if some witless staffer props a door open.
     The most successful gun crime-control action in our history was the “stop and frisk” program which took thousands of illegal guns off the street and stopped many, many gun crimes. That program was discontinued because it was framed as racist. The new law does not reinstate “stop and frisk” because our esteemed members of Congress don’t want to be perceived as racist.[16]

     Democratic leaders and the news media are heralding the new “gun safety law” with words like “sweeping,” “substantial” and “significant.” “Significant” is a relative word here. It will be “significant” IF the law “significantly” slashes gun violence in America. I predict it will not! I doubt if it accomplishes much. It may allow Republicans running in swing regions in the upcoming election season to assure rural and suburban voters that they are looking out for them.
     The law was rushed through Congress and signed by the President immediately after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. But, as Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez said, “It will probably do little for what happened here in Uvalde. It’s pretty modest.”
     After 3 decades of essentially “do nothing” it will accomplish very little. I would be generous if I predicted that the result of the new law might be a 5% reduction in deaths and injuries caused by gun violence.
     The law’s provisions are incredibly limited and in one sense racist. The legislation ignores shootings in urban neighborhoods where mostly African-Americans are gunned down.
     New York, California, and Illinois have strong gun-safety laws on the books, but they lack the power to prevent the flow of guns through the “iron pipeline” from states with lax gun laws. This "iron pipeline" extends from Indiana to Chicago’s South Side and from Georgia and South Carolina to New York City. A federal law requiring universal background checks could eventually reduce gun violence, yet Republicans refuse to consider it.
     How can the new law be racist? Black people were targeted in Buffalo (N.Y.), Charleston (S.C.), and other mass shootings in which automatic weapons were employed. For that matter, Hispanics were targeted in El Paso.
     Urban gun violence primarily causes the deaths of Black residents. Certainly whites and others are killed or wounded in urban gun violence, but anyone who lives in a large metropolis knows that the highest percentage of victims are Black.
     Academics who researched gun violence voiced doubt in a New York Times article that the mental health clause will prevent much gun violence. The article stated that it is “unlikely to result in fewer mass shootings or less interpersonal gun violence. More than half of gun deaths are suicides. Expanding access to mental health care might reduce firearms deaths, . . . but mainly by preventing people from taking their own lives. Many people struggle with mental illness, and only a small percentage of them are violent.”
     Calling this legislation a gun safety law would be laughable if not for the dreadful nature of gun violence. It is hardly a law when we consider its approach to the Red Flag laws. This “law” does not tell states to permit the temporary confiscation of guns from those deemed dangerous by a judge. Rather, we will spend $750 million to help states that create red flag laws, leaving each state to decide for itself what to do. With this kind of logic, it will likely take an additional 3 decades (a total of 60 years) to reduce gun violence by 10%.[17]

     Congress passed a bipartisan bill aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people, “the product of a compromise that could bring about the most substantial gun safety legislation in decades.” In actuality, this “compromise” did little to significantly protect American citizens from gun death and injury. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, written by a small group of Republicans and Democrats in the aftermath of back-to-back mass shootings, would enhance background checks for gun buyers between 18 and 21 years old, incentivize states to enact “red flag” laws that enable firearms to be temporarily confiscated from people deemed dangerous, and provide hundreds of millions of dollars for mental health and school safety. It would also extend to dating partners a federal law that prohibits domestic abusers from purchasing guns. 15 Republicans crossed party lines to side with Democrats in support of the measure, which passed 65-33. The 80-page bill falls far short of the toughest gun-control measures that some Democrats have long sought, but its enactment still represents a minor breakthrough after years of stalemate in Congress on addressing gun violence in the United States. BUT, of much greater importance is what the legislation left out! Here is some of what is missing in the legislation just passed.
     The most important item left out of the legislation was the repeal of the Second Amendment to the Constitution!
     Enhanced background checks for younger gun buyers: The proposal falls far short of legislation that had passed the House that would ban anyone under the age of 21 from buying a semi-automatic weapon. The Democrats also agreed to allow the enhanced background check requirement for younger buyers to expire after 10 years, leaving future Congresses to haggle over whether it should be extended. A similar “sunset” provision allowed the federal assault weapons ban enacted in 1994 to lapse in 2004, to the dismay of Democrats, who have never been able to muster enough support to revive it. Also, there is a limit on how long authorities would be able to reach back into a buyer’s mental health history; such records from before a potential buyer turned 16 could not disqualify them from buying a gun.
     Incentives for states to implement red-flag laws: Democrats wanted to go further than just providing incentives to states and enacting a federal red flag measure that would allow guns to be taken from anyone deemed by a federal judge to be dangerous.
     Closing the ‘boyfriend loophole’: Democrats wanted a blanket prohibition, but in negotiations with Republicans, they agreed to allow some offenders to regain the ability to purchase a gun. If a person is a first-time offender and the crime is a violent misdemeanor, the ban would disappear five years after the end of their criminal sentence, so long as they did not commit further violent crimes. Negotiators also agreed not to make the provision retroactive, bowing to another demand by Republicans.
     Funding for mental health and school safety: The original version of the law would have allocated billions of dollars to schools and communities for expanding mental health programs. Republicans, however, insisted on keeping the cost of the bill as low as possible and reduced the amount allowed.
     Tougher penalties on illegal purchases: The bill will crack down on “straw purchasers,” people who buy guns for those who would not qualify and establishes a penalty of up to 15 years in prison or 25 years if the firearms are used in connection with serious criminal activity such as drug trafficking or terrorism. It also provides resources to help prevent and investigate these purchases. However, the bill does not include more sweeping measures to impose universal background checks or ban the sale of large-capacity magazines. Republicans also refused to consider any mandatory waiting period for gun sales or a license requirement to purchase an assault weapon.[18]

     Yes, the new legislation should “toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous.
     “Most of its $13 billion cost will help bolster mental health programs and aid schools, which have been targeted in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, and elsewhere in mass shootings.” (Ref. 19)

     What the newly enacted legislation won’t do is get most of the guns off the streets of America and it won’t make a significant dent in the number of shootings that plagues this nation every day, every week, every month and every year! Also,it won't significantly reduce the number of young Blacks that are killed and injured evry single day in urban America!

     As Congress and the President shed their phony tears over the shooting deaths of more Americans, the carnage went on. The day after Independence Day, our newspapers contained stories like the following: “Gunshots rang and blood spilled across the streets of Boston on the eve of the Fourth of July as 10 people were shot at seven different locations in the city.’ . . . The outburst of violence across the city prompted {a statement from a county District Attorney}, who warned things could get worse.
     “ ‘Guns are too easy to acquire in other states and too many of those guns are coming into Boston and ending up in the hands of people too willing to use them. The recent Supreme Court decision could make this illegal flow of guns even worse,’ " (Ref. 20)

     In a second shooting incident: “A gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago, killing at least six people, wounding 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents and children fleeing in terror, police said. . . .
     “The July 4 shooting was just the latest to shatter the rituals of American life. Schools, churches, grocery stores and now community parades have all become killing grounds in recent months.” (Ref. 21)

     While the President “signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades”, the sad truth is that the totally inadequate law that he signed was the best that could be achieved after some 30 years of murder, mayhem and injuries to thousands of victims of gun violence. Citing the families of shooting victims, the President said, “Their message to us was to do something. Well today, we did.” Mr. President, simply “doing something” was a meaningless attempt to placate those who have been crying out for an end to the senseless slaughters perpetrated in this country by gun wielding crazies, terrorists, criminals and misfits. You and those in Congress have once again failed the American people. Just “doing something” is not enough! Mister President, we want you and our legislators – once and for all – to put an end to the gun violence in America!

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