Opinion
New York – -(AmmoLand.com)- One thing that Second Amendment supporters should be aware of is that anti-Second Amendment extremists are not just trying to enact new restrictions on our right to keep and bear arms. Often, they try to take away progress that has already been made in a pro-Second Amendment direction.
One such effort is S 3299, the Tiahrt Restrictions Repeal Act, introduced by Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey. Who if you remember the Justice Department brought criminal corruption charges against for allegedly selling his office “to push the business interests of a Democratic donor and friend in exchange for gifts” A companion bill, HR 5917, has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA). Six senators have co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate, while Lee’s version in the House has 27 cosponsors.
The names of the cosponsors on these bills could be seen as “red flags” in and of themselves, including Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand.
The legislation itself is short, and seems very technical, often discussing the deletion of text from sections 18 USC 923 and 18 USC 922. However, the effects are very real for those who exercise their Second Amendment rights. Loyal AmmoLand News readers should not take our word for it. Why not read the press release from Senator Menendez’s office for yourself? You have to admit, Menendez makes his legislation sound reasonable, even as it wrecks the privacy of those who exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Some of the provisions that these legislation targets are known as the Tiahrt Amendments. These amendments were installed to prevent the abuse of the National Instant Check System (NICS) – particularly preventing its use to create a gun registry. Now, many readers are not fans of NICS, but at the present time, repeal is not doable immediately. The Tiahrt Amendments make abuse of NICS much less likely.
The Tiahrt Amendments also prevent the abuse of gun trace data. This data was often released for anti-Second Amendment propaganda under the guide of “research.” A 2013 NRA release outlines other reasons to keep this data confidential, including the fact that the data contains the private names of retail buyers and the dealers who sold the gun.
In 2018, New Jersey released BATFE gun trace data, as part of an effort to circumvent those protections. It also noted that 77 percent of guns traced came from out of state. Note, there is proposed legislation intended to address the illegal trafficking of firearms, including via straw purchasers. Current laws also can address firearms trafficking and put people away for a long time, as a 1999 article by the NRA notes.
The Menendez legislation also pushes to requite federally-licensed firearms dealers to submit their inventories to the government. Again, most dealers already do have inventories, but why would the government need to have them? The only logical answer is again, to facilitate universal gun registration.
Given the importance of the Tiahrt Amendments in protecting the privacy of those who exercise their Second Amendment rights in this current political and social environment, Second Amendment supporters need to act. They should contact their Representative and Senators and politely but firmly urge them to oppose S 3299 and HR 5917.
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.