By Alexandria Kincaid, Attorney & Author
For some reason, the American President seems to think, or wants us to believe, that the violence, the bombings, the beheadings, and the murders seen daily in the media are due to the American citizen who lawfully exercises the right to keep and bear arms. He blames our Second Amendment, our Supreme Court’s protective interpretation of the Second Amendment, and Congress’s stance to refuse further infringement on this protection, for the acts of criminals. He blames seniors on social security who cannot manage their finances. He blames gun trusts and corporations. He blames you and me for not “doing more.”
His blame is, of course, misplaced.
Throughout his tenure, Obama has claimed that if we care about children, if we care about saving lives, we must do more. He pretends that the murder of school children and other innocent victims will be stopped by placing more burden, more process, and more bureaucracy on the citizens who buy a gun to protect themselves and their families. Lies.
His agenda is personal. He hates guns (unless in the hands of his guards protecting him and his family). He desires, and therefore misuses, power. Removing firearms from the hands of the citizenry compliments his delusion of control and dismantles the Constitution.
His executive action is, thankfully, mostly the rhetoric of a politician who says a lot but says nothing at all. Why? He has realized that we have plenty of gun control laws on the books already. He doesn’t need to stretch the parameters of executive action and create something new. He simply needs to enforce the law.
I have said for a long, long time that there are so many gun control laws in this county, no one even realizes what they are any more. This fact is the premise behind my book, Infringed.
Here’s a run down of the enforcement procedures Obama has vowed to implement:
1. Expanded background checks:
Obama claims there is a “loophole” for citizens who buy guns through a trust or a corporation. First, criminals don’t use trusts or corporations to buy guns. Second, if an individual buys a firearm in the name of a trust, corporation, or another entity, that person STILL completes Form 4473 at the dealer’s and is the subject of the regular NICS background check. This background check is the same process for the person whether they buy the gun in the entity (trust) name or in their own name.
In addition to the President’s executive order, a new ATF Rule (ATF-41P) was also signed on January 4th. This rule was proposed in 2013 after the Sandy Hook school shooting. This rule imposes even more restrictions on individuals purchasing firearms through a trust or an entity. The President claims that this rule will require background checks for “people trying to buy some of the most dangerous weapons,” which he describes as machine guns and “sawed-off” shotguns. The truth is that firearms purchased though a trust have not been used in mass shootings. In fact, their overall use for crime is very low or even non-existent in the United States. In fact, when the law prohibiting the transfer of newly manufactured machine guns to civilians (the Firearm Owners Protection Act) was signed in 1986, over 175,000 lawful machine guns were in circulation in the United States, but not a single one had been used in a crime.
2. Clarification of what it means to be a dealer. The law already states that if a person is “engaged in the business” of selling firearms, they are a dealer, must have a license, and must run a NICS background check on the person receiving the firearm. This law applies no matter where the person is dealing – on the internet, at gun shows, at home. However, clarification on this definition would, in fact, help the gun community. Here’s why:
One example of how the current law is confusing to gun owners and potential dealers is that the ATF licensing application states that if you only sell at gun shows, you do not need a license and in fact, cannot get one. In turn, ATF will prosecute people who only sell at gun shows if they believe the person is selling too many firearms for profit at gun shows. The ATF’s new “Do I need a License to Buy and Sell Firearms” guide does little more than recite current federal law. Instead of another handout, it would be better if the government would remove the lie from the FFL application so unsuspecting people selling at gun shows are not made into criminals.
3. Updating the background check system. In updating the background check system, the newly hired personnel should also be used to make sure the records are correct. This outdated system alone supports staff in my office who devote their time to helping clients clear up inaccurate records.
4. More Agents and More Enforcement. Obama is adding 430 new gun control enforcement agents for the FBI and the ATF. According to the NRA, this is more than eight times the size of the team of commandos Obama is sending to the Middle East to hunt down and destroy ISIS terrorists. Apparently, the American gun owner is more of a threat.
These perceived threats include the citizens I see in my practice: American gun owners who are trying to obey the law, but who carry the wrong size magazine, forget to renew a concealed carry license, or take a “banned” firearm into a state where it is unlawful. These people face prosecution and jail time.
Perhaps the government should focus its effort on prosecuting the true criminals – the people who are intentionally violating the law and spilling the blood. Crime rates would certainly go down if the government would also focus on keeping those criminals in prison for a spell.
5. Increase Mental Health Treatment and Reporting. Better treatment for the mentally ill could be a helpful pursuit.
But what the Obama administration is proposing does not exactly hit this nail on the head. Instead Obama emphasizes reporting to the government those people who seek help, and the REPORTING OF SENIOR CITIZENS who need help managing their finances (ie seniors on social security who have appointed another person to collect and manage their social security payments).
Are these seniors really the ones walking into our children’s schools and killing people? Of course not. Do they depend on firearms to protect themselves in their own homes? Yes. Again, the Obama administration is relying on a law that has been in effect since 1968. He now simply intends to step-up the reporting and enforcement of that law.
6. Smart Guns. Smart guns are not going to prevent terrorism or murder. Military and law enforcement agencies have already pointed out the threat to our soldiers and officers by implementing such unreliable (and unnecessary) technology for their use.
Facts escape the propaganda of the anti-gun regime. The President’s speech and the cheers and clapping from the ignorant standing behind him mimic the clamor of the Nazi party cheering to the rehearsed speeches of the Führer. Lies do not matter. Feel-good emotions and the idea of Utopia floating through the air creates bliss. But true American citizens are well aware and stand ready to attack and defend not only the Second Amendment, but our entire Constitution. The President knows this. We await the final wording of his executive action, and are prepared to take our own.