(2021-01-20) Pres. Biden announced the plan today in a wide ranging video:
“My first day in office, I’m going to send a bill to Congress repealing the liability protection for gun manufacturers, closing the background check loopholes and waiting period that now let too many people slip through the cracks.”
Sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Unless you understand what it really would do.
Let’s look at the three proposals one at a time:
1) “Repeal the liability protection for gun manufacturers”
First of all GUN MANUFACTURERS AND RESELLERS ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM LIABILITY LAWSUITS. This is a lie, spread widely by the gun control lobby and their friends in the media. They can be and are sued successfully for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, illegal sales of any kind, product defects and, according to at least on court, their advertising practices. Break the law in any way, make the smallest mistake in complying with the thousands of gun laws on the books (state or federal) and that protection vanishes.
The gun industry has been given limited protection from lawsuits against them arising from the actions of end users, provided that all laws are fully complied with. This protection is contained in the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which was passed in 2005 with a strong bipartisan majority (even Bernie Sanders voted for it). The reason it was passed is that gun control groups intended to sue the industry out of existence.
To understand how devastating such suits would be, let’s assume that carmakers were able to be sued for the actions of drivers. How long would they stay in business if they could be sued by the victims of drunk drivers? What if every serious auto accident resulted in a lawsuit – not for defects in the car, but for the actions of the driver? Clearly, they soon would be out of business – or car and trucks would cost many times what they do now and could only be afforded by the very rich.
Now imagine that family of every murder victim could sue the gun maker for damages – even if the gun were sold in compliance with every law and was stolen from the original owner. That is exactly what Joe Biden’s plan is for the gun industry. Rip away the protection and let loose the lawyers to sue them to death.
Don’t take my word for it. In 2015 Bernie Sanders defended his support for the law during an October interview with NBC News's Chuck Todd. “If you were a gun shop owner in Vermont, and you sell somebody a gun, and that person flips out and then kills somebody, I don't think it's really fair to hold the [gun shop owner] responsible.…”
In 2016, when Hillary Clinton attacked him on the issue, Sanders told Clinton: “What You're Really Talking About Is Ending Gun Manufacturing in America. I Don't Agree With That” Sanders has since changed his position, but his observation on the effect of repealing the law is just as valid today.
2) Closing the background check loopholes
Again, this sounds quite reasonable – but it is hard to know what he means without specifics. What loopholes? However, he is likely talking about prohibiting more people from owning firearms. Right now all felons and the severely mentally ill are banned from owning guns for life. What other groups does he want to add. Gun control groups have long pressed for the “Do not fly list” to be added to background checks – a move so unconstitutional that even the ACLU opposes it. There is no way to appeal your placement on the list, no standard for placement on the list and no way to find out why you are on it. Obviously, this violates not only the 2nd Amendment but the 5th Amendment’s due process protections as well.
Of course, he could be talking about background checks on private “transfers”. According to a US DOJ study published in 1/2019 such sales account for less than 2% of criminals firearms. Illegal dealers and so called “straw purchases” account for nearly 80%. Why not focus on these, instead of making it illegal for someone to loan their brother a gun?
3) End the waiting period that now let too many people slip through the cracks
Although it again is not clear, given his past remarks, he almost certainly is talking about ending the so called “Charleston Loophole” – Which is no loophole at all. When the Brady background check bill was passed in the 1990s, gun rights advocates were concerned that the federal government could decide to shut down all gun sales by simply shutting down the background check system. Today, if you are denied (and the vast majority of these denials are in error), you can appeal. However, if the background check system simply never sends your gun dealer a reply to your background check, there is nothing to appeal. That is why the bill contained a deadline for the FBI to complete the check. After the deadline expires, the gun dealer MAY release the firearm to the buyer. The current deadline is three days. In the actual Charleston case, the FBI fully admitted that an internal mistake – not the deadline – was the cause of the gunman obtaining the firearm.
So, what do gun control groups want? THEY WANT NO DEADLINE AT ALL! I would bet my life that no deadline is exactly what would be in the bill. So, what would be the effect of such a change?
Let’s look at two cases:
1) You are a divorced woman whose ex is stalking and threatening to kill you. You have nothing in your past that bars you from owning a gun – so you decide to buy one. At the gun store, you fill out the forms and wait for your background check to be approved. However, instead of the minutes it usually takes today, months pass without a reply. The FBI tells you that until they give you an answer, you cannot appeal through them. Your only choice is to hire a lawyer and sue the US government. However, before you can do that your ex murders you in your driveway. This is exactly what happened to a New Jersey woman who waited months for her state to approve her purchase.
2) Let’s consider another possibility. Your city is experiencing increased violence. The police force has been cut back. There are riots. There are home invasions. Even though you do not like guns, you decide to learn how to shoot and buy a gun. You get your training using the instructor’s guns, but when you go to buy a gun, you find that because of the increased violence, the federal government has declared an emergency and has suspended background checks in your state. Federal law prohibits you from buying a gun in another state. Local gun rights groups have sued, but the judge refuses to issue an injunction. The case will take years to get to trial. Meanwhile, no gun sales.
This is why gun control groups want to completely eliminate the deadline for the FBI to complete checks.
The next four years will see many gun control proposals that sound reasonable – but simply are not. Gun control advocates have become expert at crafting and selling laws that sound like they will do one thing but actually do something completely different. Pres. Biden owes them big time. This is just the first.
