Now a pair of legislators have taken the additional step of attempting to ban weapon designs of the future.
Sens. Angus King (I-ME) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion (GOSAFE) Act after the Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. Among the sweeping provisions in the proposal is a mandate that gas-operated designs developed in the future are approved by the government before they are manufactured.
Prohibiting technology before it is even ready? There is something chillingly authoritarian about such a concept.
Even artificial intelligence with its dark possibilities and warnings from the technological community has not encountered such a condition. There will be regulation after the fact, but no such process is in place to suppress advancement before it even occurs.
The proposal further regurgitates restrictions on magazine capacity and outlaws weapons capable of firing more than 10 rounds.
Randy Kozuch is the executive director for the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) Institute for Legislative Action. He explicitly warned of the dangers of such reckless a proposal and its potential effects on everyday citizens.
“This legislation blatantly violates the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court rulings by banning the very types of firearms and magazines most often utilized by Americans for defending themselves and their families.”
He added, “This bill unjustly and improperly places the full burden of the law on law-abiding residents, while doing nothing to take guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals. The NRA opposes this legislation and will fight to protect the constitutional freedoms of all law-abiding Americans.”
GOSAFE is essentially a push to regulate how legally protected firearms operate. This is a different approach to the usual anti-gun approach of targeting weapons just for how they look.
The senators proposed far-reaching mandates for gas-operated semiautomatic weapons, the government formation of a prohibited guns list, a ban on modifications, prior approval for future designs and preventing the production of hobby guns.
King issued a statement Thursday defending the Orwellian approach to gun control.
“The Gas-Operated Semiautomatic Firearm Exclusion (GOSAFE) Act addresses the lethal capacity weapons like the one used in Lewiston and most of the deadliest mass shootings across the country. Nothing can bring back the lives of our family and friends, but responsible actions moving forward can reduce the likelihood of such a nightmare happening again in Maine or elsewhere.”
The potential results are far-reaching.
This legislation wants nothing less than to force citizens to hand in their legally purchased weapons to the federal government. This is despite the plain truth that there is not a chance that criminals will follow suit.
It places arbitrary restrictions on lawful weapons and magazine capacities, stripping avenues for self-defense away from law-abiding Americans.
Gun Owners of Maine leapt to the forefront of resistance to this dangerous proposal. In a statement, the Second Amendment advocacy group said that it wishes to engage in dialogue with political leaders over the contentious issue.
“We look forward to the day when our Representatives in Congress are willing to sit down and have a serious discussion about how to address the mental health crisis that is taking place in our state and country instead of putting forth legislation that only harms the law-abiding.”
That is the crux of the issue. Everyone knows that mental health problems must be addressed, and no one argues against this being a top priority.
And it should not be weakly replaced by misguided gun control laws that do nothing to solve the underlying problem.
