Update: H.R. 127 Hostile to Law Abiding Gun Owners

By Jim Vallee @Shutterstock

“H.R. 127 is so outrageous, persecutory, and unworkable that its main function is simply to display the hostility of its author and supporters toward firearms, those who own them, and those who want to own them,” explains the NRA Institute for Legislative Action and continues (abridged):

• H.R. 127 would ban common types of ammunition, including every shotgun shell larger than .410.

– The bill states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to possess ammunition that is 0.50 caliber or greater.”

– Violations of this ban would result in the imposition of a fine of at least $50,000 and imprisonment of at least 10 years, mandatory penalties not seen in many violent or infamous federal crimes, including torturing someone to death outside the U.S. or committing treason during wartime.

– Hunting whitetail deer would be legally impossible in at least 10 U.S. states if these restrictions went into effect.

– The bill would also make it impossible for Americans to follow President Biden’s advice to keep a double-barreled, 12 gauge shotgun for self-defense, rather than an AR-15.

– Innumerable numbers of shotgun shells currently possessed by law-abiding people for lawful purposes would suddenly become contraband.

• H.R. 127 would force Americans to relinquish hundreds of millions firearm magazines with no compensation.

– The bill states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to possess a large capacity ammunition feeding device”, and defines such devices to include those “that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition,” excluding certain integral .22 rimfire magazines.

– Industry production figures show that there are hundreds of millions of 11+ round magazines.

– As with its ban on shotgun shells, H.R.127’s magazine ban would apply retroactively, affecting items already owned by millions of Americans for lawful purposes, with no compensation for owners forced to relinquish property that was lawful when obtained.

• H.R. 127 would require the federal government to register some 400 million guns in the span of only 3 months.

-The bill states that registration information would have to be provided to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, “in the case of a firearm acquired before the effective date of this section, within 3 months after the effective date of this section.”

-But BATFE would also have to create the registration system during those 3 months.

-Because the U.S. (intentionally) does not already have a national firearms registry, it would be impossible for the government to fairly and effectively enforce this system with respect to existing gun owners.

• The firearm registry database would have to be made available to “all members of the public,” as well as “all branches of the United States Armed Forces,” among others.

– This would facilitate private discrimination against gun owners, including in such things as employment and access to essential services such as banking, insurance, or housing.

– It also seems to presuppose that the military, which is prohibited by law from engaging in domestic law enforcement, has some role in policing civilian firearm ownership.

• Ironically, criminals who possess firearms illegally would self-exempt themselves from the registration requirement, and under U.S. Supreme Court case law, could not be required to disclose their illegal firearm possession through registration.

• H.R. 127 would retroactively criminalize firearm ownership by young adults.

– Currently, there is no federal prohibition on adults aged 18 or older possessing otherwise lawful firearms.

– The bill, however, would require a license to possess any firearm, and licenses would only be available to those aged 21 or older.

– Millions of young adults, including those in the military, would become ineligible to possess firearms for their own lawful purposes under this legislation, including any firearms they already owned.

• H.R. 127 would discourage voluntary mental health treatment, including for combat veterans or victims of violent trauma, by permanently prohibiting the issuance of a license to anyone who “has been hospitalized … with a mental illness, disturbance, or diagnosis (including … addiction to a controlled substance … or alcohol) … .”

– Anyone who had been hospitalized with a “brain disease” would also be ineligible for a license, including those suffering from brain cancer, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease.

• H.R. 127 would effectively price lawful firearm ownership out of reach for many of the poorest and most vulnerable Americans.

– It would require the holder of a firearm license to pay a tax (masquerading as government-issued “insurance”) of $800 per year.

– License applicants (and even other members of their household, as directed) would also have to undergo a psychological evaluation at their own expense.

• H.R. 127 has a long way to go before becoming law.

– The bill has not yet been scheduled for a committee hearing, and it currently has zero cosponsors.

– While it is not presently moving, it does show how far gun control advocates would like to go in attacking the right to keep and bear arms.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.