United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- You have to hand it to Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), the title of the legislation they introduced in their respective bodies has two huge lies in just five words. When you look over what the Making America Safe and Secure Act of 2021, you will find it will provide neither safety nor security.
This legislation, with the bill numbers S 2325 and HR 4238 for the Senate and House version respectively (see earlier coverage of the types of legislation Second Amendment supporters will deal with at the federal level), promises to bring safety and security by bribing states to implement gun licensing schemes. The fact is, licensing schemes don’t work. Maryland has passed a handgun licensing scheme, but Baltimore is still one of the cities with a high murder rate.
Furthermore, New York, despite its licensing scheme, had massive crime increases. What did get crime down? Well, they actually went after the criminals. All of the burdens and infringements they imposed on those who wished to exercise their Second Amendment rights didn’t work, either. Illinois has seen the same situation in Chicago.
But the fact is the two whoppers (with apologies to the delicious Burger King menu item) that this bill sells is not the worst part. When you check out the text of the legislation, you’ll see that one of the criteria for a state licensing scheme to qualify for one of those grants is “other factors relevant to the suitability of a license holder” with “suitable” person defined as someone who “does not create a risk to public safety.”
What does create a risk to public safety? Well, the proposed legislation does not say. That’s not all that is vague in this legislation. There’s a lot more room for some bureaucrat to deny a license through delay – since no timeframe for approval is in this legislation. This is how you get a tragedy like what happened to Carol Bowne in New Jersey. Not that her safety or security – or that of others facing real threats to their safety and security – matter to Markey and Pressley.
These sorts of schemes need to be stopped with the use of our First Amendment rights. Second Amendment supporters should contact their Senators and Representative to politely urge that they oppose S 2325 and HR 4238. They also should join a pro-Second Amendment organization and work to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists at the federal, state, and local level via the ballot box as soon as possible.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.