NRA BASHERS - NOPE, WRONG AGAIN!
By Evan Nappen, Esq.
December 20, 2007
"Nope, wrong again!" says Rafiki, the anthropomorphized monkey in The Lion King as he hits his wayward student on the head with his staff. Well, the so-called "no-compromise" NRA Bashers have again firmly sided with the extreme anti-gun movement in their opposition to the recently amended HR 2640, which now awaits the President's signature to become law. The NRA Bashers are wrong again and need a whack from Rafiki's staff. Here is the proof. In a recent news release, the notoriously anti-gun Violence Policy Center stated:
WASHINGTON, DC - Leading national gun violence prevention organizations - the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the Legal Community Against Violence, and the Violence Policy Center - today warned that a bill intended to improve the records available to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) - the national system used to screen gun buyers - has been hijacked by the gun lobby and would now do far more harm than good. [Emphasis added]
Here are just some of the objections the extreme anti-gun movement has with HR 2640:
- The Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) would be required to establish a "relief from disability" program to allow
persons now prohibited from possessing a firearm because they have "been
adjudicated as a mental defective" or "committed to a mental institution" to
apply to have their bar on firearms possession removed. As a result of the
bill, more than 116,000 individuals would be eligible to apply.
- [The Bill sets] ...an arbitrary [sic - in other words, a definite] time
limit for the VA to act on applications for "relief." If the agency fails to
act within 365 days, applicants could file a lawsuit asking a court to restore
their gun privileges, even if Congress fails to provide the VA with the appropriate
resources to process these investigations. Some prevailing applicants would be
entitled to attorneys' fees.
- [The Bill ] Significantly narrow[s] the category of records of people with mental disabilities that would be submitted to the NICS by the federal government.
Even more troubling is the fact that the NRA Bashers are on the same side as the following noted anti-gun activists who oppose the bill:
Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, states "This bill was intended to be Congress's response to the mass shooting at Virginia Tech that left 32 people murdered. But rather than focusing on improving the current laws prohibiting people with certain mental health disabilities from buying guns, the bill is now nothing more than a gun lobby wish list. It will waste millions of taxpayer dollars restoring the gun privileges of persons previously determined to present a danger to themselves or others. [Emphasis added]
Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, adds, "It is ironic that the gun lobby has coerced Congress into providing resources to rearm mentally disabled veterans during a time when the VA is struggling to provide adequate mental health care to those in need."
Robyn Thomas, executive director of the Legal Community Against Violence, comments, "The bill's original intent, to increase reporting of state records to the NICS database, is an important objective that would improve enforcement of federal laws governing persons prohibited from possessing firearms. The changes made by the gun lobby risk undermining those laws."
How can HR2640 be so rotten for gun owners, yet the VPC and its pals vigorously oppose it? It's clear that NRA has had a great victory and steamrolled over the anti-gun forces. Maybe that's the real problem; it was NRA that actually achieved something for gun rights as opposed to just criticizing the hard work of others and seeing bogeymen behind every word in the bill. The truth about HR 2640 for law abiding firearm owners is Hakuna matata.*
* A song from The Lion King. "Hakuna matata" is Swahili for "there are no worries here" - or in other words, "no problem."
Note: See the NRA-ILA article at http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=10407
Editor's note: See Attorney Nappen's previous article, "Enough NRA Bashing!"