Houston Police Chief Urges Congress to Pass Gun Control

Yesterday, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo was on Capitol Hill urging Congress to do something about "gun violence" which means, pass gun control.  The Washington Post has the story here.  Besides being the leader of the Houston Police Department, he is also the current president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association.  Major Cities Chiefs has been a long advocate of gun control and in his remarks, Acevedo called for reinstatement of the so-called "assault weapons" ban, and passage of "universal" background checks.

The last time these proposals had any serious consideration in Congress, was in 2013 after the Sandy Hook school shooting.  That was during the Obama Administration.  Obama's own National Institute of Justice, the research bureau of USDOJ, had this to say about these proposals:

A perfect universal background check system can address the gun shows and might deter many unregulated private sellers. However, this does not address the largest sources (straw purchasers and theft), which would most likely become larger if background checks at gun shows and private sellers were addressed. The secondary market is the primary source of crime guns.

The above linked document goes on to show how useless most of the gun control proposals floating around Congress are in reducing crime. But that is not really the goal of these proposals, it is to make it harder and harder for law abiding citizens to purchase and own firearms.  Yesterday, Dave Kopel had a great analysis of a bill currently being considered in the House, HR8 that would impose a so-called "universal" background check.  Kopel goes though the legislation section by section and notes this in his summary of the legislaion:

HR8 requires that loans, gifts, and sales of firearms be processed by a gun store. The same fees, paperwork, and permanent record-keeping apply as to buying a new gun from the store. If you loan a gun to a friend without going to the gun store, the penalty is the same as for knowingly selling a gun to a convicted violent felon. Likewise, when the friend returns the gun, another trip to the gun store is necessary, upon pain of felony.

A clever trick in HR8 effectively bans handguns for persons 18-to20.

The bill has some narrow exemptions. The exemptions do not cover stalking victims. Also excluded are farming and ranching, sharing guns on almost all public and private lands, NS storing guns with friends while on vacation. The limited exemption for family excludes first cousins and in-laws. The minuscule exemption for self-defense excludes stalking victims.

The bill authorizes unlimited fees to be imposed by regulation.

Read Kopel's entire analysis to get the details. Then contact your congressman and urge them to oppose HR8.