Roll Up Your Sleeves!

Back to the Beginning

Everything starts over again in January for Congress and state legislatures, where a lot of new faces will be showing up. Old bills and new legislation must all be re-filed or filed anew. Anti-gunners will have their agendas and pro-rights lawmakers should have plans of their own. If there are no proactive gun rights proposals, now is the time to be working on them.

Remember the words of the late Congressman and U.S. House Speaker Thomas “Tip” P. O’Neill: “All politics is local.” And remember this also: No matter what you want, there will be someone ready to oppose you.

• Threat: Expect a renewed push for so-called “universal background checks,” which Alan Gottlieb at the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms warns is the backdoor path to national gun registration.

• Threat: There will be revived efforts to repeal preemption statutes in some states.

• Threat: Expect proposals to ban so-called “assault weapons” and keep an eye on court cases challenging bans already existent in some states.

• Threat: Watch for more blue state legislatures to consider legislation mandating 10-day waiting periods. These are not designed to prevent tragedies — they’re designed primarily to put weekend gun shows out of business and discourage people from buying firearms.

• Threat: Be particularly watchful for proposals to require permits-to-purchase. Ever since the results of a study done by Tufts University School of Medicine, Dr. Michael Siegel appeared in the journal JAMA Network Open back in August, the anti-gun crowd has been quietly salivating. Siegel, with whom I traded emails at the time, did an analysis of 12 states and reported that states with laws requiring permits-to-purchase in addition to “universal” background checks have lower homicide rates than states with only background check requirements.

Here is a list of challenges for the coming year —

• Challenge: Resist 10-day waiting period bills with all of your energy. In states where such laws already exist, push back to repeal them. Consider legal action because such waiting periods are clearly unconstitutional under guidelines set down on the 2022 Supreme Court Bruen decision. The Court said “the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” There is no historical analogue showing a waiting period requirement existed at the time the Constitution was ratified.

• Challenge: Demand the Biden administration’s White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention be scrapped, and pressure Congress to make it happen. Likewise, demand Congress withhold all funding used to finance this office and make sure it never comes back.

• Challenge: Twenty-nine states now have permitless carry — so-called “constitutional carry” — laws. If your state isn’t on the list, you should approach friendly lawmakers and put forth legislation. Even if your bill goes nowhere, the mere fact it is being proposed will be enough to raise some eyebrows and divert the attention of anti-gunners away from other efforts.

• Challenge: Retired gun owners have time on their hands. Consider yourselves the “elder statesmen” of the firearms community. Make yourselves known. As you work through the legislative process, remember, “I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing this for my grandchildren. I have enjoyed this country’s liberty and I’m here to protect it for future generations.”

With the new Congress and new legislative sessions, all legislation must be newly introduced, even if it has been previously submitted. December is the month when we learn about pre-filed bills, so start paying attention to legislative websites, and reports from your state capitol about new measures and who sponsors them.