According to Firearm Chronicles
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- Some attacks on our rights can be so subtle, they can be missed at first glance, even in a relatively short piece of legislation. In fact, these are the ones worth studying, if only to be more aware of them.
One such attack is contained in HR 4271, the Gun Suicide Prevention Act, introduced by Representative Julia Brownley (D-CA). At first glance, this very short piece of legislation – all of three pages long in the PDF provided at Congress.gov – seems very innocuous. All it requires is that the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline be provided on a warning label that is included with every firearm sold.
Much of the discussion when it comes to attacks on our Second Amendment rights concern the misuse of firearms – often for homicides. But suicides involving firearms kill about twice as many people as homicides involving the misuse of firearms. Either way, the deaths involved target our rights, and reducing them is in the interest of Second Amendment supporters.
But looking closely at the bill reveals a serious land mine. The requirement to include the warning label amends the Consumer Product Safety Act. Now, we see the trap that has been laid by Representative Brownley.
This is because some anti-Second Amendment extremists, like the Violence Policy Center, have long sought to give unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats the power to order gun bans and recalls. Even with the Congressional Review Act, such bans could be very difficult to defeat. For starters, there would be a limited amount of time to pass the resolution, and if the President is anti-Second Amendment, then you’d need the two-thirds vote to override a veto.