With the impeachment trial of Donald Trump now over, Democrats are planning their next move.
And one Democrat-backed bill would turn tens of millions of gun owners into felons overnight.
This bill could signal the beginning of Joe Biden’s war on the Second Amendment.
With the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump now over, Democrats in Washington, D.C. are turning their attention to implementing their legislative agenda.
And with the party controlling both the House, Senate, and White House, Democrats are now debating what agenda items from the party’s platform it wants to push for first.
But one fight over the Second Amendment could end up being the key political battle fought in Washington, D.C. over the coming Spring and Summer.
Reason Magazine reports, “A gun control bill that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D–Texas) recently introduced gives you an idea of what Democrats might do if they did not have to worry about the Second Amendment.”
“The ‘Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act’ would establish a national database that is supposed to include every gun in the country, make it a felony to own a firearm or ammunition without a license from the Justice Department, ban magazines that hold more than 10 rounds and “ammunition that is 0.50 caliber or greater,” and criminalize possession of a “military-style weapon” without a special license.”
The bill establishes a penalty for violating the act with massive fines, and even mandatory minimum prison sentences, despite recent attacks on mandatory minimum sentences from Democrats, who have claimed the practice is racially biased and unconstitutional.
In a break from many other recent gun control proposals that have been brought up in Congress over the past decade, this bill is retroactive in nature, applying both to existing guns and new firearms purchased or manufactured after the bill enters into effect, should it pass Congress and be signed into law.
After just a three month grace period, gun owning American citizens would be compelled to report the number of firearms in their possession or face a penalty of $75,000, a minimum of 15 years in prison, or possibly even both.
“[Congresswoman Sheila Jackson] Lee’s bill so far has no cosponsors, and it is unlikely to make much progress. But it reflects a broader mindset in the Democratic Party, which used to at least pay lip service to the Second Amendment but lately talks and acts as if it does not exist. After promising to respect the Second Amendment in 2004, 2008, and 2012, the Democrats erased the constitutional provision from their 2016 platform, although they did mention “the rights of responsible gun owners.” The 2020 platform omitted even that phrase,” concludes Reason Magazine.
Reason also suggests that while Lee’s bill is unlikely to pass both chambers of Congress and reach Joe Biden’s desk, it does illustrate how far to the left the Democratic Party’s platform on gun control and the 2nd Amendment has moved over the years.
What’s more, the bill could end up serving as an “extreme” proposal designed to make Joe Biden’s own gun control platform appear more “moderate” by comparison, giving it a better chance of passing a potential Republican filibuster in the Senate.
Biden’s proposal includes banning “assault weapons” and expanding Federal background checks, which critics point out could be used to open the door to a Federal registry of firearms, in a similar vein to the one proposed in Congresswoman Lee’s bill.