This week in gun rights – September 19, 2020

Matthew Larosiere is the Director of Legal Policy at Firearms Policy Coalition. You can connect with him on Twitter @MattLaAtLaw.

Study: Age Bans Don't Stop Homicides; Amy Coney Barrett is the apparent frontrunner for the Supreme Court nomination; Alyssa Milano calls cops on teen with BB gun; Was NYPD cop a Chinese spy?; Ohio Legislature votes to extend concealed handgun licenses; Update: Murphy gun fees nixed; Hawaii signing off on new gun laws.

Study: Age Bans Don't Stop Homicides

A new study from the University of Washington suggests that state laws banning 18-20 year olds form purchasing guns makes little to no difference in local firearm homicides in the same age group.

Obviously, murderers are a uniquely motivated class of criminal with little regard for the law. Naturally, they ignore these bans. So it's clear, and the study shows, that these bans make little difference. Except, of course, for the millions of adults in that age group categorically denied these fundamental rights. The answer should be obvious: stop violating the rights of young adults.

Amy Coney Barrett is the apparent frontrunner for the Supreme Court nomination 

President Trump is planning on making his Supreme Court pick announcement today (Saturday), and speculation has it that Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals will be nominated to fill the empty seat. Though her record on the matter is somewhat sparse, Judge Barrett seems to be a fan of the Second Amendment, having reasoned in a 2019 court case that people with felony records shouldn’t be categorically denied the right to keep and bear arms. Elaborating on the state of that right, Judge Barrett said in her dissent that the Second Amendment is a “'second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees.'" While gun owners on the political left may be concerned about Judge Barrett’s position on other, clearly controversial issues, they can likely rest assured that she will be a consistent voice in favor of the Second Amendment.

Alyssa Milano calls cops on teen with BB gun

You’ll shoot yer eye out, kid! Those are (not quite) the words of former television witch Alyssa Milano, who called the police on a kid in her neighborhood Sunday morning. Hearing what they apparently believed to be gunshots, Milano called the police (ironic, considering she’s called for their defunding). The description given to the police of the alleged mystery gunman was “male, 40-years old, with long rifle.” As is often the case for rich liberals that call the police from their gated communities, the response was disproportionate; at least seven police vehicles arrived on scene, along with a K-9 unit, a helicopter, and a team from the Los Angeles Fire Department. This would be an unreasonable response if someone had a gun, but it’s even more unreasonable when you realize that the alleged assailant was just a teenager shooting his air rifle at some squirrels. Nice one, Alyssa.

Was NYPD cop a Chinese spy?

A common argument from the pro-gun control crowd is that, especially in crowded urban centers like New York City, there’s enough police that you don’t need to carry a gun. What they fail to acknowledge time and time again is that the police who are supposed to keep people safe may not be worth trusting. An excellent example of this is the recent arrest of NYPD officer Baimadajie Angwang, who has been accused of spying on Tibetans living in the city and giving Chinese officials access to senior police personnel. If these allegations are true, that means that the city government was being exploited by the Chinese to allow them to oppress people on American soil. So not only do city residents have to worry about corruption, they have to worry about espionage as well. Why again is it that we should trust the police to keep us safe when it may be the police that we have to fear?

Ohio Legislature votes to extend concealed handgun licenses

Gun owners in Ohio have been fighting to get their handgun licenses and renewals processed since the start of COVID-19 shutdowns earlier this year. Fortunately for them, this week the Ohio Legislature voted near-unanimously this week to extend concealed handgun license expiration dates through at least June 30, 2021. Further, if the license expires between April 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021, the license will be extended another ninety days past its expiration date. The amendment, House Bill 614, also eliminates county-specific requirements, allowing licensees to renew their license at any sheriff’s office in the state. 

Update: Murphy gun fees nixed

In a bit of good news for gun owners (who aren’t rich), Governor Phil Murphy has struck a deal with Democrats in the New Jersey Legislature, agreeing on a budget that will include tax increases for top tax bracket income earners and HMOs in lieu of levying taxes on firearms purchases and licensing. Considering the state’s propensity for overspending, this may only be a temporary reprieve for New Jersey residents, but a welcome one nonetheless. 

Hawaii signing off on new gun laws

Two new anti-gun laws went into effect in the Aloha State this week. The first is Senate Bill 3054, which requires people who move firearms out of the state to notify their county police department within five days of the firearm’s removal. The fine for violating the new law is $100 per violation. While this may not seem like anything more than a simple, administrative hurdle, mandating reporting on the movement of firearms out of the state has no practical value for public safety purposes and will simply be used to fuel further anti-gun legislation.

The second piece of legislation that went into effect today is House Bill 2744. This bill is much more sinister, because it (poorly) attempts to regulate firearms components and homebuilding. Specifically, the bill bans the production of unserialized firearms receivers AND “[a]ny combination of parts from which a firearm having no serial number may be readily assembled; provided that the parts do not have the capacity to function as a firearm unless assembled.” If you don’t understand what that means, you’re in good company, because it’s nonsense.

It appears the Hawaii Legislature was trying to prevent people from building spooky ghost guns, but what they’ve done with this new trash heap of a bill is practically ban the manufacture of any firearms components, because no parts can function as a firearm unless they are assembled into a firearm, and the intent requirement - that is, the thing the state needs to prove in order to convict someone - is that the parts were manufactured for the purpose of assembling a firearm. In other words, as any gun owners should know, the gun doesn’t go “bang” unless the parts that make it go “bang” go into the gun. And who makes parts without intending to put them into a gun? Unless, of course, they’re made for windchimes or something.

What the Hawaii Legislature doesn’t seem to understand is that these laws won’t stop anybody from building guns in their homes. It hasn’t stopped people in the European Union, it hasn’t stopped people in New Jersey, and it won’t stop people in Hawaii. It’s an unenforceable, virtue-signaling propaganda bill, but I guess that’s what we should expect from a state government that won’t even let people carry butterfly knives.