The Gun Bill That Is Going Through Congress Could Significantly Increase The Number Of Americans Banned From Buying Guns

Michael Snyder is the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, The American Dream Blog and The Truth. You can follow him on Twitter right here

When news that a “concealed-carry reciprocity law” had been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, gun owners all over the nation rejoiced.  But what most people didn’t realize is that there had been a last minute change to the bill that could substantially increase the number of Americans that are banned from buying guns.  This poison pill completely ruins the bill, and it must be voted down.  What we need is a clean “concealed-carry reciprocity bill” that does not include “Fix-NICS” in it.

Let’s start at the beginning.  Last week, gun owners were elated when the House passed a bill that would enable them “to legally carry concealed weapons across state lines”…

Republicans rammed a bill through the House on Wednesday that would make it easier for gun owners to legally carry concealed weapons across state lines, the first significant action on guns in Congress since mass shootings in Nevada and Texas killed more than 80 people.

The House approved the bill, 231-198, largely along party lines. Six Democrats voted yes, while 14 Republicans voted no.

The measure would allow gun owners with a state-issued concealed-carry permit to carry a handgun in any state that allows concealed weapons. It now goes to the Senate.

It would be easy to assume that since virtually every single Republican voted for this bill that it must be a good thing.

But it turns out that a change was inserted into the bill at the last moment that many lawmakers never read.  According to Fox News, the bill “contained an 11th-hour change to help states and agencies enter such data as criminal and domestic-violence convictions into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System for gun purchases”.

A few member of the House immediately figured out what was going on and decided to vote against the bill.  One of them was U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert…

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) explained on Wednesday that he could not support national reciprocity because House Leadership added the gun control expansions of “Fix-NICS” to it.

“Fix-NICS” is a measure Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and John Cornyn (R-TX) support. It responds to the Air Force’s failure to report Devin Kelley’s criminal history by expanding the number of people who will be barred from gun possession going forward.

So exactly how many people could be “barred from gun possession going forward”?

Well, according to Gun Owners Of America, even people with “unpaid traffic tickets” could be banned from owning guns under this bill…

The goal of the Cornyn-Feinstein-Murphy-Schumer bill is to force every single potential NICS name to be sent to the FBI’s NICS system.

It was prompted by reports that the Air Force did not send the name of the Sutherland Springs shooter to NICS — even though he certainly could have gotten a firearm in a wide variety of ways, even if he had been in NICS, and even though his carnage was stopped by the real solution to violence … a good guy with a gun.

The problem is that, because of this isolated horror story, the Cornyn bill could add the names of millions of additional law-abiding Americans to NICS.

You already know of the 257,000 veterans who have lost their rights because of a bad experience in Iraq.

You already know that 95% of NICS denials are “false positives.”

And you probably also know that “Fix NICS” would require that the rolls of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and ObamaCare be trolled for recipients with PTSD, ADHD, or Alzheimer’s — that is, people who have had guardians appointed.

What you may not know is that the SECOND LARGEST CATEGORY of prohibited persons is “fugitives from justice” — and that a good portion of these are Americans who have UNPAID TRAFFIC TICKETS.

Needless to say, I would have voted against this bill, and as a member of Congress I will never compromise on the 2nd Amendment even a single inch.  If you believe in what we are trying to do, I hope that you will help us to win next May.

Even though Donald Trump is in the White House, the enemies of the 2nd Amendment are still trying to sneak gun control measures through Congress, and we need leaders in Washington that will tirelessly defend our rights.

Michael Snyder is the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, The American Dream Blog and The Truth. You can follow him on Twitter right here