One of the biggest reasons Democrats do so poorly in many rural areas of this Country is the NRA has convinced folks that the "Democrats want to take your guns away". Now comes the "Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009", introduced in the House on January 6. A lovely little bit of legislation that provides:
`(1) IN GENERAL- It shall be unlawful for any person other than a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector to possess a qualifying firearm on or after the applicable date, unless that person has been issued a firearm license--
Okay, but what, exactly, is a "qualifying firearm"??
(b) Amendment to Title 18, United States Code- Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
`(36) The term `qualifying firearm'--
`(A) means--
`(i) any handgun; or
`(ii) any semiautomatic firearm that can accept any detachable ammunition feeding device; and
`(B) does not include any antique.'.
I guess a handgun with a detachable magazine would be "double qualifying".
Going far beyond the silly and ineffectual "Assault Weapons Ban", this turd gets worse, to wit:
`(cc) Universal Background Check Requirement-
`(1) REQUIREMENT- Except as provided in paragraph (2), it shall be unlawful for any person other than a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector to sell, deliver, or otherwise transfer a firearm to any person other than such a licensee, unless the transfer is processed through a licensed dealer in accordance with subsection (t).
`(2) EXCEPTION- Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the infrequent transfer of a firearm by gift, bequest, intestate succession or other means by an individual to a parent, child, grandparent, or grandchild of the individual, or to any loan of a firearm for any lawful purpose for not more than 30 days between persons who are personally known to each other.'.
Let's review. This Bill would require a License for anyone to own any handgun, or any semiautomatic rifle or shotgun with a removable ammunition magazine, and would require that ALL sales of ANY firearm be done through a licensed dealer.
This is a cunning plan to piss away any gains Democrats have made in garnering votes from rural areas of about 47 States, and to make damned sure no such gains happen again for at least a decade. The first State where this would completely flip the political situation would be Pennsylvania, where semiautomatic deer rifles like the Remington 742/7400 have been very popular for two or three generations, followed in short order by both Michigan and Ohio for the same reason...
Here's hoping that few Democrats in Congress are politically-suicidal enough to support this thing.