So, the unemployable Gabby Giffords and her has-been husband Mark Kelly have put in appearances in Illinois to promote their special brand of snake oil – which is nothing more than far-reaching, game-changing gun control.
Yes, it's snake oil, rehashing already failed gun control schemes with a few new twists.
You can fool some of the people much of the time, but you can't fool gun owners.
This woman, who pandered to gun owners one month and the next month launched a jihad against gun rights, is quite miserable and pathetic. Her husband makes child sex offenders look like great people as well.
Those who are financing Gabby Giffords' "Americans for Responsible Solutions" are using her like a freak of nature for publicity to deprive well-meaning Americans of their rights and freedoms that help keep our families safe. They're pulling her strings as if she were a gimpy marionette.
What's more, they must be pretty proud of themselves, because not only will this proposal effectively put every firearm dealer out of business, but also every ammunition seller, and every firearm trainer that offers "loaner" guns to their students.
Giffords and Kelly are claiming their special brand of snake oil will make our streets and neighborhoods safer. If only.
Specifically, here's the deal:
We expect this legislation to be a rehash of Senate Bill 1883 from the rabidly anti-gun Senator Harmon.
This new scheme would create a whole new layer of licensing for not only gun dealers, but also anyone who sells ammunition. Current federal law requires only ammunition manufacturers to have a federal firearms license.
Anyone who leases firearms (like a firearm instructor) would have to be licensed, even if providing complimentary loaner guns was part of the course description.
The new proposal would have the Illinois Department of Professional and Financial Regulation would oversee this new licensing scheme, not the Illinois State Police. It just creates a brand new bureaucracy and more onerous hoops for dealers and sellers to jump through.
The information sought by the State of Illinois under this new proposal would likely be nearly limitless. Ever had a concealed carry license? They want to know. Ever had a license revoked or suspended? They want to know. Ditto for all of your employees, down to the people who clean your toilets. Have any of your employees got said licenses? You have to divulge that. Any of your employees get a new license, or have an old license suspended, revoked or expired? You as the business would be in hot water for violations.
The new legislation, if implemented as described, would require a background check of everyone down to the UPS driver handling firearms and ammunition shipments. As it currently stands, anyone handling firearms or ammunition is required to have an extensive background check and a FOID card in Illinois.
The fees are not specified. $10 or $10,000? There are no statutory limits.
The proposal would ban anyone under 21 from participating in the business – even family-owned businesses working from a home office. This doesn't just include selling or handling firearms or ammunition. This would include anyone cleaning the business or even washing windows on the exterior of the facility or plowing snow from the parking lot outside. Oh yes, home-based firearms and ammunition businesses (and firearm trainers loaning guns for supervised training) would be prohibited.
All transactions must be recorded – on video as well as paper. The proposal would treat all card-carrying good guys in Illinois as registered sex offenders. Are mug shots next?
Allows any police agency in Illinois to conduct limitless, warrantless searches of any registered dealer in Illinois. Chicago politicians would LOVE to send their personal goons to each and every remaining dealer on a regular basis to snoop.
Oh, it gets better: It also would seek to rescind the limited pre-emption passed into law with Illinois Firearms Concealed Carry Act.
Stay tuned and be ready to make calls to the Illinois General Assembly.
We need to push back against Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly so they know they we don't want their big-city gun control snake oil. What's more, we can offer them some ideas on where they can apply it.
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