Weekly Spotlight 6/21/24 – 6/27/24
Vice President Harris Doubles Down On Biden Administration’s Anti-Gun Agenda
In a recent campaign stop in Atlanta, Vice President Kamala Harris doubled down on the Biden administration’s anti-gun agenda and reaffirmed her support for so-called “red flag” gun laws. Almost half of all states have implemented red-flag laws, and the Biden administration has made it clear that they would like the remaining states to follow suit.
The push for additional states to adopt these measures has been a calling card of President Biden’s anti-gun agenda and one of the most blatant ways they intend to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners. In fact, in 2022, President Biden signed legislation that incentivizes states to introduce and install “red flag” gun laws. His administration has even created a new office to help states implement them.
“Red flag” laws, while being billed as a sensible approach to public safety, in actuality undermine due process and leave substantial room for abuse. In some states, under these laws, the “flagged” individual is not even made aware of the proceedings, leaving the subject unable to advocate for themselves.
There is also minimal evidence pointing to the effectiveness of “red flag” laws in stopping violent crime. Those who set out to intentionally harm will do so by any means necessary. This latest call by Vice President Harris is the most recent in a long line of anti-gun rhetoric from the Biden administration. Law-abiding gun owners must take this opportunity to make their voices heard and stop these government overreaches from being put in place.
OTHER NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
The National Instant Background Check System (NICS) numbers are in for May 2024. NICS shows May of 2024 to be the sixth highest number of NICS checks for May in the 25 years recorded. Gun sales are no longer reliably tied to the NICS checks because the checks are used for many other purposes than gun sales. The FBI system shows checks done for various categories of gun sales individually. This allows an estimate of gun sales to be calculated separately from the overall NICS checks.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Sunday that he plans to bring up a vote this week on restoring a ban on bump stocks, devices that greatly increase the rate of fire of semi-automatic weapons, after the Supreme Court invalidated a federal rule that outlawed the device days ago. Calling the Supreme Court a “MAGA court” and saying they have “gone off the edges of the far right yet again,” Schumer said Sunday at a news conference that he plans to bring up a vote on restoring the bump stock ban under unanimous consent, which could be blocked by opposition from just a single lawmaker.
- The Truth About Guns: District Court Vacates Biden Pistol Brace Final Rule
A U.S. District Court in Texas has ruled that the Biden Justice Department’s Final Rule redefining braced pistols as “short-barreled rifles” violates the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) so is therefore unconstitutional. In the lawsuit Mock v. Garland, U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor granted summary judgment in favor of the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and its co-plaintiffs and issued a final judgment and order vacating the DOJ/ATF rule.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a federal rule in four states that requires people who sell firearms online and at gun shows to conduct background checks on their potential customers. In a preliminary injunction issued Tuesday, US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives cannot enforce the rule intended to close the so-called gun show loophole in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Utah.