Anti-gun activists have attempted to limit the Second Amendment in any way possible, but various efforts to criminalize gun ownership have fallen flat upon constitutional scrutiny.
Looking for a way to reduce the number of so-called “assault weapons” without imposing an outright ban, a group of House Democrats are pursuing a bill that would tack on a staggering 1,000% excise tax on certain rifles, including the popular AR-15.
It’s really that simple! pic.twitter.com/nigkIORFOm
— NRA (@NRA) August 6, 2023
The move came just a day after party leaders called on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to take up a vote on gun-control proposals, which he declined to do before the chamber went into recess.
“We are disappointed that Republican leadership cancelled votes in July with so many pressing issues facing our country,” the resulting letter stated. “Foremost amongst those is the gun violence crisis that is the leading cause of death for children in America.”
Of course, such sweeping generalizations ignore critical context related to this hot-button issue. As the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates have frequently pointed out, jurisdictions with the harshest firearms laws, which tend to be led by Democrats, typically have the highest rates of violent crime.
Long before the advent of modern firearms, America’s founding fathers understood the fallacy of imposing restrictions on gun ownership among law-abiding citizens.
An array of relevant quotes have been attributed to Thomas Jefferson alone, including one that states: “Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
As for the bill that would hike the price of a $2,000 weapon to $20,000, more than two dozen House Democrats — led by U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) — believe it is an appropriate step to take in their mission to reduce access to certain guns.
“Congress must take action to stem the flood of weapons of war into American communities, which have taken a terrible toll in Uvalde, Buffalo, Tulsa, and too many other places,” he asserted. “Again and again assault weapons designed for use on the battlefield have been used in mass shootings at schools, grocery stores, hospitals, churches, synagogues, malls, theaters, bars, and so on.”
