Following the NRA’s statement favoring ATF regulatory action on bump stocks versus Congressional action on gun control, Ohioans for Concealed Carry warned that the NRA’s move lays down “cover” for pro-gun control Republicans whose behavior is usually checked by a strong NRA stand.
In other words, Republicans who have expressed openness to gun control following the Las Vegas attack do not have the normal degree of pro-gun pressure on them because the NRA quickly acquiesced to the option of ATF regulation over their old mantra of “Stand and Fight.”
Therefore, while House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX), Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), and Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), are certainly under constituent pressure to hold the pro-Second Amendment line, they are simultaneously shielded — to a point — by the NRA’s actions.
The Columbus Dispatch reported that Ohioans for Concealed Carry “lamented that ‘nominal’ gun rights supporters … [now] think they can use the NRA’s stance as cover for anti-gun legislation.”
They added:
We say no knee-jerk bans on any gun accessory just because the media has demonized it. We’re not going there. We’re not even going to swerve near the exit lane that leads to gun ban neighborhood. We’re staying in the express lane towards liberty land while driving the pro-gun agenda muscle car in high gear. That will anger the elitists in the anti-gun movement but we’re just fine with that.
It may also anger the elitists in the pro-Second Amendment movement, some of whom appear ready to make concessions on the bump stock which Barack Obama’s ATF clearly found to be an accessory, not a conversion device.
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) appear to know the bump stock is just as an accessory too, despite all the rhetoric to the contrary. Thus the gun control bills from Feinstein and Curbelo both ban accessories that increase the rate of fire on a semiautomatic without converting it into an automatic weapon.
Feinstein’s bill bans any “accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun.” And Curbelo’s bill is even broader, prohibiting “the manufacture, possession, or transfer of any part or combination of parts that is designed and functions to increase the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but does not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machinegun, and for other purposes.”
Remember, Curbelo is a Republican, but with Speaker Ryan, Sen. Cornyn, Rep. Flores and others voicing openness to gun control — and the NRA voicing openness to regulation — he is not under a great deal of pressure to fight for the Second Amendment.
Folks, it is time to stand and fight. Let Republicans and gun rights groups alike know that we are not in the mood to acquiesce on words like, “Shall not be infringed.” We are not in the mood to pass a bill in Congress that opens the door to myriad other gun controls nor are we longing to have the ATF place even more regulations on our gun rights.
Republicans own the House, Senate, and White House — time to act like it.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.