WASHINGTON, D.C. -(Ammoland.com)- Obama advisor Rahm Emanuel once said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” And gun-grabbing politicians have latched on to his words.

Since the senseless acts of violence in Buffalo, NY, and Uvalde, TX, Democrats have smelled fresh blood in the water and have pounced. They are exploiting the tragedies to attempt to pass a dream list of gun control packages through Congress. Moreover, some Republicans are on board with some of these proposed draconian laws.

The Democrats believe that they can get legislation passed that we as a community have successfully prevented from becoming law in the past by exploiting the actions of two madmen. This article will break down anti-gun bills that I envision coming down the pipeline. I will give some background on each proposal and discuss how likely they are to pass in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Red or Yellow (its all the same) Flag Gun Confiscation

The most likely item to pass both chambers of Congress is a bill on red flag laws or extreme risk protection orders (ERPO). Sidney Blumenthal and Lindsey Graham have been working on a proposal in the background. The proposal ranges from so-called yellow flag laws to grants to states to enact red flag laws. They might call it a yellow flag law, but it will still be a red flag gun confiscation bill.

The threat of some kind of red flag legislation reaching the President’s desk is extremely high. These laws violate an individual’s right to due process as guaranteed under the US Constitution. The extreme risk protection order (ERPO) target doesn’t have the opportunity to defend themselves in court before their door is kicked down by the police and their property is stripped from their possession. Sell-out Republican Senator Susan Collins supports this type of bill.

21 to Buy Guns

Raising the age to buy a semi-automatic rifle to 21 is also likely to pass out of the House, although it will not be a slam dunk in the Senate. The bill has some support from weak-kneed RINO Republicans in Congress. Overcoming the filibuster will be hard, although Democrats might be willing to drop other legislation as a “compromise” to get this bill passed.

Unenforceable Safe Storage Laws

Safe storage laws are another measure that has some out-of-touch Republicans support. I wouldn’t call it a sure thing for a bill to be passed, but I see some type of safe storage law making it out of the House only to be blocked in the Senate. But there will be immense pressure put on Republicans by Democrats in the Senate and special interest groups to back this bill.

Bump Stock Ban Redo

A bump stock ban is also in the works. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has already banned the controversial item by changing the definition of a machine gun, but that is on shaky ground legally. If the Supreme Court takes up the case brought by Gun Owners of America (GOA) out of the Sixth Circuit of Appeals, that ban could be knocked down.

Rob Olson, Chief Legal Counsel for GOA, claims that the ATF abused Chevron deference when changing the definition of a machine gun. Some Justices on the high court have shown skepticism that Chevron can apply to a criminal statute. Many gun rights activists believe GOA will get a victory if it is taken up by SCOTUS, and apparently, so do the anti-gunners in Congress. Any proposed law like this will fight a tough uphill battle because the language will likely include expanding the ban past just bump stocks to other types of trigger devices such as binary triggers. Are belt loops next!?

Serialize Everything

Another proposal on the table would require serializing all unfinished firearm frames and 3D printed guns. These are known colloquially as 80% frame and receivers. A bill will probably pass the House in some form, but I believe this will be stopped in the Senate. Once again, there will be a lot of pressure to pass something. Even if a bill does pass, it will be unenforceable.

Now let’s get to the proposal that Democrats will almost assuredly introduce, but I believe it does not have a great chance of passing out of Congress. Although you never know since most Republicans in Congress seem not to have a backbone.

Standard Magazine Ban

A magazine ban has been batted around that would ban magazines holding more than ten rounds. I don’t believe that a proposal like this can make it through the Senate and might be a sacrificial lamb to pass other less extreme bills. Republicans tend to play defense and are happy just not to give up everything. Democrats, ask for the world, then settle for half.

Assault Weapons Ban… the Sequel

The second sacrificial lamb proposal is a 1994-style “assault weapons ban.” The original ban did not affect the crime rate. This piece of legislation has been a wet dream of Democrats for years. Dianne Feinstein has introduced this bill multiple times, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has also thrown weight behind a ban. Biden wants this legislation on his desk, but I don’t see Republicans letting a bill pass in the Senate. I see this as a negotiation piece of legislation. But you never know if the anti-gun politicians will be able to dig up the votes to pass a bill.

Everything Gets a Background Check

The final piece of legislation I can see being introduced is universal background checks. This proposed law has been a goal of Democrats for a very long time. The anti-gun side will be sure to bring this proposed law up, but the chances of it passing in the Senate is slim, although it could pass the House.

We need to pressure our legislators not to bend a knee to the anti-freedom coalition. Here are a few names we need to put extra pressure on to keep the line on gun rights. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and Senator Susan Collins of Maine are the weakest links on the Republican’s side. We need to let ALL members of Congress know where we stand.

I sign off all my YouTube videos by saying, “Stay ever vigilant; stay ever free.” What I mean by that is that freedom requires constant vigilance. If you are vigilant, you can take action to prevent our freedoms from being stripped. Our political apathy has led to many of our rights being stripped away. It is time that all gun owners wake up and get at least as politically involved as the anti-gun side.

All gun owners should voice their concerns about overall gun control measures to their Senators. Senator’s offices can be reached through the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121 or online here.

Here are links to some of the worst of these anti freedom bills:

• Protecting Our Kids Act
• Raise the Age Act (HR3015)
• Prevent Gun Trafficking Act (HR2280)
• Untraceable Firearms Act (HR3088)
• Ethan’s Law (HR748)
• Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act (HR6370)
• Kimberly Vaughn Firearm Safe Storage Act (HR130)

About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.

NEW YORK – New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed 10 bills into law on Monday intended to strengthen the state’s gun laws after recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.

Among the new laws is the prohibition of the sale of body armor to civilians, the requirement to have a license to purchase semi-automatic rifles, the making of a threat of mass harm as a crime, and the strengthening of the state’s red flag laws which make it easier to take guns away from dangerous people before they commit a crime.

The other new laws include requiring that all new pistols be equipped with microstamping technology, which uses lasers to imprint markings on a firearm, making it easier to trace guns and raising the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles to 21.

“In New York, we are taking bold, strong action. We’re tightening red flag laws to keep guns away from dangerous people,” Hochul said at a press conference in the Bronx.

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“Passing comprehensive gun legislation is quite literally a matter of life or death, and part of this package includes our legislation to require gun manufacturers and dealers to implement micro-stamping technology, which adds a trackable serial number to spent ammunition,” State Sen. Brad Hoylman said after introducing the bill last week. “So literally when a gun is fired, the casing will be inscribed with a code that can then be tracked back from the scene of say a crime to the gun that actually fired the bullet.”

• Buffalo mass shooting: Gunman targeted Black neighborhood, officials say

New York’s Legislature passed the bills last week, pushing the changes through after a pair of mass shootings involving 18-year-old gunmen using semiautomatic rifles. Ten Black people died in a racist attack on a Buffalo supermarket May 14. A Texas school shooting took the lives of 19 children and two teachers 10 days later.

“This is a moment of reckoning for us is in New York and as Americans,” added Hochul.

The Supreme Court was expected to hand down a decision in the coming weeks on the state’s concealed carry law and whether it is constitutional.

Democrats in the House have put forward an array of wide-reaching gun control bills that are set to come to the floor this week, but in the Senate, which can make or break the success of most bills, Republican Party negotiators are requesting more time.

Various Democrat factions in both the House and Senate have pushed for sweeping federal legislation to change gun laws in the United States, in the wake of a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead.

House Democrats Float Various Gun Control Proposals

In the House, where simple majorities rule, Democrats have pushed for the wide-reaching “Protecting Our Kids” Act, which was pushed through the House Judiciary Committee in a party-line vote last week. It is expected to come to the floor for a vote later this week.

That bill, among other provisions, would ban the sale of “any semi-automatic centerfire rifle or semi-automatic centerfire shotgun that has, or has the capacity to accept, an ammunition feeding device with a capacity exceeding 5 rounds” to citizens below the age of 21. Currently one only needs to be 18 to buy such a weapon.

It would also codify the Department of Justice’s controversial ban on bump stocks, a weapon modification that increases the fire rate of a semi-automatic firearm.

In addition, the bill would make it a federal crime to possess weapons that critics have pejoratively labeled “ghost guns”—a term usually describing homemade or 3D-printed weapons without a serial number.

However, the real litmus test for any bill is in the Senate, where most legislation must overcome a 60-vote filibuster threshold to pass.

Foreseeing difficulty overcoming the filibuster threshold, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) put forward a bill that would bypass the filibuster entirely.

That bill, much narrower in scope than the Protecting Our Kids Act, would place a 1,000 percent tax on many types of semi-automatic firearms in the hope of making them unaffordable for most average Americans.

Specifically, the bill targets weapons like the AR-15, which can range in price from $400 to $2,000. If Beyer’s bill were to become law, this range would increase to over $4,000 on the low end to $20,000 on the high end.

“Congress must act to prevent mass shootings,” Beyer said in a June 5 Twitter post. “I’m writing a bill to restrict the flow of weapons of war into American communities—including AR-15’s and high capacity magazines—that could bypass the filibuster and pass with just 50 votes in the Senate.”

To do so, the bill uses the budget reconciliation process. This process allows bills specifically related to federal revenues and expenditures to pass through the Senate by a simple majority vote, with no need for the bill to overcome the filibuster threshold.

Democrats have already relied on the process on various occasions to overcome GOP resistance in the upper chamber.

At the beginning of 2021, the budget reconciliation process was used to advance the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan to President Joe Biden’s desk. Later, Democrats used it for the Build Back Better Act, which ultimately failed after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) refused to vote for the package.

However, this process too is subject to some limitations.

Because of the potential for abuse of the system, as indeed happened through the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan and the Democrat-controlled House, the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) authored a rule requiring all items in a budget reconciliation bill to be directly related to federal revenues and expenditures.

The parliamentarian, who serves as the Senate’s nonpartisan referee, has wide-reaching authority to accept or reject items in budget reconciliation that go beyond the bounds of this rule.

This was a power that current parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough exercised on several occasions, during negotiations surrounding immigration provisions in the Build Back Better Act.

Though Beyer’s bill seems to be within the bounds of the reconciliation process, Republicans could try to convince MacDonough to rule against the bill if it comes to the Senate.

So far, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democrat leaders have given no indication that the bill will be considered, however.

Senator Cornyn, Leading GOP Senate Negotiations, Asks for More Time

In the Senate as well, lawmakers have spent the past few weeks working to find a legislative response to the shooting.

Republicans, citing Second Amendment rights, have long pushed back against Democrats’ efforts to tighten federal gun laws. Some Republicans seem to be open to softening this stance, though most have pushed for bills to increase school security or address widespread mental illness issues instead of stricter gun control.

Most prominently, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said during an interview with CNN that he had instructed Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to negotiate with some Democrats, including Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), to try to hammer out a compromise bill.

“I’ve encouraged him to talk to Senator Sinema, Senator Murphy, and others who are interested in trying to get an outcome that’s directly related to the problem,” McConnell said, adding that he is “hopeful that we could come up with a bipartisan solution that’s directly related to the facts of this awful massacre.”

McConnell was anxious to emphasize that he was not pushing for legislation that would advance a partisan Democrat agenda, but only to find a legislative solution directly related to the circumstances of the Uvalde shooting.

“What I’ve asked Senator Cornyn to do is to meet with the Democrats who are interested in getting a bipartisan solution and come up with a proposal, if possible, that’s crafted to meet this particular problem,” he said.

However, Cornyn has indicated that lawmakers need more time to work out any such agreement, despite a sense of anxiety on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) part to bring legislation to the floor as soon as possible.

Cornyn told another news outlet that negotiators will need at least a week to hammer out any such deal, and he asked Schumer to push back the deadline for reaching an agreement.

“Good consensus legislation takes time. So I hope Sen. Schumer will let his members work,” Cornyn said. “There’s no use in rushing a vote on a doomed partisan bill like the House is expected to vote on this week.”

In a June 5 ad in the Dallas Morning News, 250 GOP donors praised McConnell’s decision to tap Cornyn as the lead negotiator in the effort, saying Cornyn is “the right man to lead this bipartisan effort, as he has demonstrated throughout his career.”

It remains unclear what will come of the Senate negotiations, however.

Even with McConnell’s backing, any agreement reached between Cornyn and Democrats will need the support of at least 10 Republicans. And many, concerned about returning to their constituents with a gun control bill on their record, may be hesitant to back any such bill.

Further complicating the issue, progressive elements in the House may be hesitant to give their backing to a bill that does not go as far as they would like.

Joseph Lord

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Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.

A number of gun reforms being discussed are broadly popular with the public. A recent survey from Morning Consult and Politico showing that 88 percent of respondents supported a background check requirement on all gun sales.

Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that House Democrats would soon consider legislation banning military-style assault weapons, marking Congress’s most aggressive response to date on gun control.

Zach Schonfeld contributed to this report.

New York passes bill making it illegal for anyone under 21 to buy – or even HAVE – a semiautomatic rifle just weeks after 18-year-old with semi-automatics massacred ten in Buffalo as mass shootings soar across the US

• The New York State legislature voted Thursday to ban anyone under the age of 21 from buying or even possessing a semi-automatic rifle
• The bill would also require anyone buying a semi-automatic rifle to get a license – which is now only required in New York State for handguns
• It is part of a larger package of gun control measures, which also includes restricting civilian purchases of bullet-resistant armor
• Other bills would require new guns to be equipped with microstamping technology that can help law enforcement trace bullets
• The move comes less than three weeks since an 18-year-old used two semi-automatic weapons to shoot up a supermarket in Buffalo
• Ten people were killed as a result 

By MELISSA KOENIG 

New York’s legislature voted on its last day of session Thursday to ban anyone under the age of 21 from buying or even possessing a semi-automatic rifle.

The bill also requires anyone buying a semi-automatic rifle to get a license – which is currently only required in New York State for handguns.

But it is just one part of a larger package of gun control measures announced earlier this week by Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. Kathy Hochul to bolster New York’s already strict gun laws in the wake of a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo.

Other new legislation will restrict civilian purchases of bullet-resistant armor, and require new guns to be equipped with microstamping technology that can help law enforcement investigators trace bullets to particular firearms.

‘I really look at this passage as being very comprehensive,’ Rebecca Fischer, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence told Politico.

‘I think that for states like Connecticut and New Jersey, California, these are laws that can be used as a model t get them up to speed right away.’

The age limit bill passed the Senate along party lines, 43-20, and in the Assembly 102-47, and will now head to Hochul’s desk for her signature.

She is widely expected to sign off on the bills, telling FOX 5 on Wednesday: ‘We’re going to have a package that people are going to be proud of, and it’s going to close some loopholes, but also say that 18 year olds who cannot buy a beer at the local bar should not be able to buy an assault weapon.

‘We’re going to change that immediately.’

Many Republicans in the New York State Senate opposed the new gun limitations, arguing they would inconvenience law-abiding firearms owners and could be easily circumvented by people determined to get weapons.

But Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, said he had no problem putting up obstacles.

‘It is meant to be a hassle to those folks who might want to get their hands quickly on something with which they could mass murder people,’ he said.

The age limit change would largely impact areas outside New York City, which already requires permits to possess, carry and purchase any type of firearm and prohibits most applicants under 21.

As a result of the bill, New York would join a handful of states – including Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Vermont and Washington – that require buyers to be at least 21 instead of 18 to purchase some types of long guns.

Similar legislation has also been proposed in Utah.

But legal fights over the legislation are expected, with the Supreme Court already expected to overturn the state’s limits on concealed carry permits.

And California’s attempt to raise the legal buying age for semi-automatic weapons has also been challenged.

On May 11, a U.S. appeals court panel in northern California ruled 2-1 that the state´s ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons to adults under 21 is unconstitutional.

Payton Gendron reportedly documented how he wanted to shoot up a facility used mainly by black people and had previously threatened to shoot up Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna High School around graduation. He was indicted Wednesday on several charges, including one count of an act of domestic terrorism motivated by hate and ten counts of first degree murder

The two judges who ruled in the majority were part of Republican President Donald Trump´s wave of conservative-approved nominees that reshaped the famously liberal court.

The National Rifle Association is also challenging Florida’s ban on the sale of rifles and other firearms to adults under age 21, which was passed in the wake of a 2018 shooting that killed 17 students and staff at a high school in Parkland.

Semi-automatic rifles automatically load each bullet after firing, although firing requires pulling the trigger for each round. That makes it possible for mass murderers to kill more people in a short amount of time.

Previously, people as young as 16 could possess long guns like rifles and shotguns without a license in New York, although they had to be 18 to buy one from a federally licensed firearms dealer.

Sen. Alexis Weik, a Republican of Long Island, pointed out that an 18 year old could still travel to another state and buy a semi-automatic rifle.

Sen. Kevin Thomas, a Long Island Democrat and one of the bill´s sponsors, replied, ‘Are you advocating for federal gun control? Because that what´s needed.’

New York lawmakers were also passing legislation expanding the list of people who can apply for an extreme risk protection order, a court order that can temporarily prohibit someone from purchasing or possessing a firearm if they are believed to be a danger to themselves or others.

‘Even as we take action to protect New Yorkers, we recognize that this is a nationwide problem. I once again urge Congress to seize this moment and pass meaningful gun violence prevention measures. We have no time to waste,’ Hochul said in a statement.

Police were seen walking along the perimeter of the scene after the shooting last month

Ten people – all of whom are black – were killed in the apparently racially motivated attack

The move to expand the state’s already strict gun control laws comes just weeks after 18-year-old Payton Gendron drove about three hours from his home in Conklin to a supermarket in Buffalo, where he began firing.

Investigators say Gendron had intended to kill as many black people as possible in the shooting at the Tops Friendly Markets store on May 14.

He had apparently detailed his plans and his racist motivation in hundreds of pages of writings he posted online shortly before the shooting, and had previously threatened to shoot up Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna High School around graduation.

Gendron was released after spending a day-and-a-half in the hospital following that incident, and had no further contact with law enforcement before the shooting.

He was then able to purchase an AR-15-style rifle and some body armor, which he used in his attack, which killed 10 people and injured three others.

Gendron has since been indicted on several charges, including one count of an act of domestic terrorism motivated by hate and ten counts of first degree murder.

The 25-count indictment also contains charges of murder and attempted murder as a hate crime and weapons possession, and he has previously been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting, for which he pleaded not guilty.

The domestic terrorism charge accuses Gendron of killing ‘because of the perceived race and/or color’ of his victims.

In an address Thursday night, President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass sweeping gun control legislation following the Buffalo shooting and another one 10 days later in Uvalde, Texas – where 19 children and two teachers were killed at an elementary school

The shooting – as well as another one in Uvalde, Texas just 10 days later, when 19 children and two teachers were killed at an elementary school – has renewed the debate about gun control in the country.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, at least nine people were killed and more than 60 were injured in at least 14 ‘mass shootings’ around the country, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an institute tracking shootings in the country.

Overall, gun violence over the weekend saw 156 people killed and 412 injured.

And on Thursday, the United States House Judiciary Committee held a markup session for the ‘Protecting Our Kids Act,’ which  would raise the purchasing age of certain semiautomatic centerfire rifles from 18 to 21 throughout the country.

It also goes after high-capacity magazines, ghost guns and bump stocks and mandates certain requirements for firearms storage on residential facilities.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi also promised to have a hearing and markup of the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.

And House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also set a vote for next week for red flag legislation offered by Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., whose son was a victim of gun violence a decade ago.

Republicans, meanwhile, remained firm in their resistance and the eight-piece measure is unlikely to make it through the Senate after the House passes it.

But a bipartisan group of senators led by Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, are working on a slimmed-down gun control measure that focuses on state-based red flag programs, school safety and mental health programs.

In a televised speech Thursday evening, President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass such sweeping gun control measures.

He insisted, though: ‘This is not about taking away anyone’s guns. It’s not about vilifying gun owners. We believe we should be treating responsible gun owners as every gun owner should behave.’

But, Biden added, ‘The Second Amendment is not absolute.’

The president then made the matter an election year issue, imploring voters to make the matter of gun control ‘central to your vote.’

His calls went beyond what the House package would do, calling for an outright ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, strengthening background checks and requirements for gun owners to properly store their firearms.

Biden admitted the likely defeat on an assault weapons ban, but said that the minimum age for such weapons should at least be raised from 18 to 21.