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Changes after Edition 6Gun Laws of America 6th Edition, released Sep., 2009
Keeping tabs on government gun legislation Newest material is added at the top of this file Efforts to erase the right to keep and bear arms have been weak, Things have been quiet, but not that quiet.
Posted Sep. 8, 2011 ATF Demand Letter July 12, 2011 Lacking congressional authority to change FFL firearm reporting requirements, BATFE is attempting to do it anyway by use of a "demand letter" to dealers in the Mexico-U.S. border states (CA, AZ, NM, TX). The letter demands that those dealers (about 8,500) report sales of two or more long guns to the same individual within a five-day period, if the guns are above .22 caliber and uses a detachable magazine. The records will require identifying information on the buyers, be stored at federal facilities, and no requirements for destroying the information exist, since BATFE enacted the rule on its own, without oversight, in direct violation of federal law (FOPA). The agency estimates generating 18,000 records annually, with no information on cost or how the data will be filed or used. They are being sued by multiple entities to stop the usurpation of power. The infuriating part is that, while BATFE may (may) be stopped from these violations of federal law, FOPA does not provide jail time for violators, as it should. BATFE says registration is necessary to stop straw purchases by Mexican drug cartels. Observers believe it has been set up as a distraction to obscure the fact that BATFE is the agency caught smuggling vast quantities of guns to the cartels.
Medical Marijuana As of 2010, Arizona is one of 17 states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes (AK, CA, CO, DC, DE, HI, ME, MI, MT, NV, NJ, NM, OR, RI, VT, WA). About 7,500 residents have obtained permission slips to have use, grow or buy pot from allowed sources. Federal law however says any person "who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance," which includes pot, is a prohibited possessor. Obtaining the permission slip in and of itself does not seem to rise to the level of denying a person's rights, but possession or use of the drug may be, it is an unsettled area of law. According to some observers, users may be safer in a practical sense to obtain the drug from the existing cartels, than to get it from the new government cartel and be put into a database, at least until the issue is settled. The FBI has issued a memo (as opposed to a regulation or other more official pronouncement) defining what they consider unlawful use, including "current use" which covers the past year even if "the substance is not being used at the precise time the person seeks to acquire a firearm or receives or possesses a firearm." How this might be determined is unknown. A user includes a person who "has lost the power of self-control with reference to the use of the controlled substance," as well as a person with a conviction for use or possession in the past year, or multiple convictions in the past five years. These time frames are not found in any law enacted by Congress, yet another example of unregulated law making by bureaucrats on their own. An exception is provided however, in the memo, for "A person who is a current user of a controlled substance in a manner other than as prescribed by a licensed physician." Arizona is suing the federal government to clarify the issue, and protect state employees from obeying the state law and running afoul of the federal law. The state bar has issued an opinion that, “a lawyer may ethically counsel or assist a client in legal matters expressly permissible under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act...despite the fact that such conduct potentially may violate applicable federal law.” The full FBI memo is posted at gunlaws.com.
Firearms in National Forests Order #12-08-234R bans certain use of firearms, air rifles or gas guns in Tonto National Forest in Arizona, except for licensed hunting, self defense, defense of a third person, authorities acting in an official capacity and under specially issued permits. Each state may have similar restrictions, people need to check locally. The stated purpose is to protect visitors and employees in areas of high recreational use and the "forest-urban interface, where the indiscriminate discharge of a firearm is likely to pose a substantial risk to public safety." The order is in effect for five years as of June 18, 2009, but can be ended earlier or extended. Violations carry a $5,000 fine for individuals or 6 months in jail, or $10,000 for organizations. Detailed descriptions and maps cover the banned areas that range from about 2/10ths of a mile up to 27 miles, in the Cave Creek Ranger District, the Horseshoe Damn/Bartlett Dam area, The Mesa Ranger District, the Superstition Wilderness area and the Globe Ranger District. The maps and descriptions are posted as updates at gunlaws.com.
Healthcare Gun-rights concerns have been raised about broadly defined behavioral and "wellness" provisions in the 2,075-page health-care bill pushed through Congress without significant public scrutiny and signed in 2010. Gun Owners of America singles out these portions: §5301 provides grants and contracts for training professionals in undefined "injury control"; §2705 provides for a "wellness program" using national databases to lower insurance rates for people with an undefined healthy lifestyle, part of a "health promotion" to be offered by employers; the Washington Examiner ponders whether, "certain provisions could eventually be used to discourage or even restrict gun ownership as part of a government effort to influence behavior as it broadens its control over the health care system” and suggests it "Could put gun information in a national database, and then use past disorders or health problems to prevent people from owning guns..." and that in general, "the health bill empowers “the argument that the government has the authority to control private behavior." The secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to set up electronic standards for record keeping and that "the data and information systems for such plans are in compliance with any applicable standards." Erich Pratt of GOA is quoted on NPR: “Every medical record will be fed into a government medical database, which was created under the stimulus bill, and that information can be forwarded to the Brady background check system.” Nothing apparent in the law allows or restricts the use of the information in that manner.
LEOSA Improvements In 2004, active, off-duty and retired law-enforcement officers were granted permission to carry firearms discreetly anywhere in the nation. Loud promises to provide this for the public, widely promoted while the LEO battle was waged, somehow never materialized. On Oct. 12, 2010 Obama signed an expansion of that law (SB1132, P.L. 111-272). It opens the gates for federal-officer participation, formerly a gray area, including: Amtrak Police, Federal Reserve officers, executive branch officers (agents of the Dept. of Justice, Secret Service, and Park Police), and agents of the Dept. of Defense. Hollowpoint ammo is now protected nationwide for this special class of people, but NFA weapons are excluded. Time served is reduced from 15 years to 10 for an officer to qualify. A recorded reprimand is not grounds for loss of this privilege, but harsher punishment is. Because LEOs need to carry an ID card to exercise this privilege and some states had difficulty making that happen, the law allows the card to be issued similarly to a driver's license, or by a qualified certified firearms instructor who can test active-duty officers (states do not have to set up a special credential-issuing program, but most officers can't use the law without a carry document of some sort). States that are hostile to this scheme may not be much improved. This brief summary does not cover some of the fine details of the law, q.v. http://www.ILAlegal@nrahq.org will answer questions for LEOs.
National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges The bans in place for mere possession of firearms in National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges are repealed, by HR627 (P.L. 111-024) in 2009 (attached to a credit-card rights act). Section 512 of the bill describes in exquisite detail how these bans violated the right to keep and bear arms, entrapped unwary people, and stood out against the laws of the states the places are located. "Congress needs to weigh in on the new regulations to ensure that unelected bureaucrats and judges cannot again override the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens..." Almost more important than the lifting of the rights bans in 83,600,000 acres of NP and 90,790,000 acres of NWR, the law makes these places subject to the state laws they are in. In other words, federal authority over this land is overridden by the states, an excellent development in the quest for increased federalism, an end to federal overreach and recognition of the Tenth Amendment.
Gun Rights in the Military The 2011 National Defense Authorization Act, in an amendment championed by the NRA, protects the rights of armed-forces personnel that had been abused by military leaders. As the NRA frames it: "Section 1062 of the Act prohibits the Secretary of Defense from issuing any requirement, or collecting or recording any information, 'relating to the otherwise lawful acquisition, possession, ownership, carrying, or other use of a privately owned firearm, privately owned ammunition, or another privately owned weapon by a member of the Armed Forces or civilian employee of the Department of Defense' on property not owned or operated by the DOD. It also requires the destruction of any information of the type prohibited by the Act, within 90 days. Although the DOD was considering national rules, Fort Riley, Kansas started the fiasco with regulations that required, "troops stationed there to register privately owned firearms kept off-base and firearms owned by their family members residing anywhere in Kansas. It prohibited soldiers who have carry permits from carrying for protection off-base. And, it authorized unit commanders to set arbitrary limits on the caliber of firearms and ammunition their troops may privately own," according to the NRA.
Military Surplus Ammo Protected Also, after a two-year battle, §346 will "preserve and increase the availability of once-fired military small-arms cartridge cases and other ammunition components to civilian vendors, who use the components to produce commercially reloaded ammunition." The military policy change that led to destruction or removal from sale of once-fired brass was partially fixed in the 2010 appropriations bill by declaring that, "None of the funds available to the Department of Defense may be used to demilitarize or dispose of M-1 Carbines, M-1 Garand rifles, M-14 rifles, .22 caliber rifles, .30 caliber rifles, or M-1911 pistols, or to demilitarize or destroy small arms ammunition or ammunition components that are not otherwise prohibited from commercial sale under Federal law, unless the small arms ammunition or ammunition components are certified by the Secretary of the Army or designee as unserviceable or unsafe for further use." The new amendment goes further and provides better protection by declaring that "Small arms ammunition and ammunition components in excess of military requirements, including fired cartridge cases, which are not otherwise prohibited from commercial sale or certified by the Secretary of Defense as unserviceable or unsafe, may not be demilitarized or destroyed and shall be made available for commercial sale." It applies to loaded ammo and other components as well as fired brass. The public gets more ammo and components, and prices should drop as supply increases, while the bases get a new source of revenue (selling to the public the ammo the public paid for in the first place through taxes). The act also straightens out the conditions under which the military can reclaim goods sold to the public under regulations on disposition of military property. And finally, it encourages military installations, "to continue granting public access to base lands for hunting and fishing, and to provide discounted hunting and fishing permits and other accommodations to current and retired military personnel who have disabilities." The only entity in the nation capable of obtaining reforms like this is the NRA, and they deserve your support.
Spring Assisted Knives The Second Amendment protects arms, which includes devices with blades. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, attempted to ban the importation of spring-assisted knives, or knives that can be opened with one hand, which constitute the vast majority of the knives sold in America today. This power grab and attack on the right to arms and on free enterprise was beaten back, and the CBP dropped the effort after massive public outcry and some inside lobbying that never made the news. Public sentiment does matter, when properly voiced. The Switchblade Knife Act of August 12, 1958 (Pub. L. 85–623, codified at 15 U.S.C. §§ 1241–1245, provides that whoever knowingly introduces, or manufactures for introduction, into interstate commerce, or transports or distributes in interstate commerce, any switchblade knife, shall be fined or imprisoned, or both. Notably, possession or use of the knives is not covered. And of course, use of any knife in the commission of a crime is a serious crime with commensurate penalties. 19 CFR §12.96 defines switchblades as "(a) Switchblade knife. . . . any imported knife, . . . including ‘‘Bali- song’’, ‘‘butterfly’’ . . . knives, which has one or more of the following characteristics or identities: (1) A blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button or device in the handle of the knife, or any knife with a blade which opens automatically by operation of inertia, gravity, or both..." including kits or knives that can be easily converted to such operation, and knives with a spring powered blade that shoots out of the handle.
Quarterly Excise Tax on Arms HR 5552, The Firearms Excise Tax Improvement Act, was signed into law on Aug. 16, 2010, P.L. 111-237, and removes the burden on firearms and ammo makers to pay excise tax every two weeks, an enormous and costly burden. They now pay it quarterly like other conservation industries, and can make use of the funds they earn for the entire time, instead of giving them over to the federal government constantly. These taxes go to the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund, the largest source of habitat restoration funding in the nation, in operation since 1937. Last year the industry contributed an astounding $450 million to wildlife conservation, far outdistancing so-called "green" groups who make a lot of noise but do comparatively little. A coalition of 35 conservation groups from Ducks Unlimited to the NRA to the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation made the change possible. IRS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also supported the bill, among many others.
Feb. 12, 2010 Effective February 22, 2010, carry within National Parks is governed by the laws of the state where the park is located.n1 This new federal law, like most federal laws that grant or confirm rights in the U.S., has been thrown into the “statutes at large,” rather than the U.S. Code. [Note: This bureaucratic technique, used frequently for laws that protect or enhance your rights instead of controlling you, makes finding the laws much harder, since they do not get a statute number.] The law revokes rules that had been promulgated by the Park Service/Dept. of Interior. However, new rules are being written to address firearms within “federal facilities” within the parks, and those rules will likely prohibit firearms within those “federal facilities.” [Note: Federal authorities never had apparent legitimate delegated authority to implement the ban in the first place, c. 1980, but that didn't stop them. For a determined bureaucrat or anti-rights bigot within the system, the enacted language, below, has plenty of wiggle room and the regulations created for federal facilities is unlikely to be a robust recognition of the right to keep and bear arms. For example, the rule that is being repealed banned possession, carry, use and transport of firearms, but the new rule only controls the Secretray of the Interior regarding possession. Also note ammunition isn't mentioned. The ban had required firearms to be unloaded.] ------------------
Rider Passed Protecting Military Firearms, Ammunition, and Components With the holiday season upon us, and the end of the year fast approaching, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3326Ñthe Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2010. With the passage of this bill, NRA-ILA wraps up its appropriations work for the year. Our efforts on the huge spending bill were rewarded with the restoration of a longstanding rider to protect M-1 carbines, M-1 Garands, M-14s, .22 caliber rifles, and others from being destroyed. This language also includes a prohibition on the destruction of small arms ammunition and components, and a response to the short-lived concern over destruction of spent brass casings earlier this year. Section 8019 of the bill reads: "None of the funds available to the Department of Defense may be used to demilitarize or dispose of M-1 Carbines, M-1 Garand rifles, M-14 rifles, .22 caliber rifles, .30 caliber rifles, or M-1911 pistols, or to demilitarize or destroy small arms ammunition or ammunition components that are not otherwise prohibited from commercial sale under Federal law, unless the small arms ammunition or ammunition components are certified by the Secretary of the Army or designee as unserviceable or unsafe for further use." NRA-ILA would like to thank U.S. Representative John Murtha (D-PA) for his help in getting the rider restored and expanded. To read the full bill, please click here.
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