Obama's Executive Actions on Guns Likely to Include Regulations on Lost, Stolen Firearms

It has been widely reported that Obama's so-called "Executive Actions" to get gun control he can't get from Congress will include something related to reclassifying at least some private sellers as FFLs.  This is Obama's attempt to "expand" background checks by requiring private citizens who sell an arbitrary number of firearms from their personal collection are classified as federal firearms licensees (FFLs).  This action would reverse a policy of Bill Clinton that sought to reduce the number of FFLs in the counrty in the mid 90s. 

Laws passed under the Clinton administration, such as the Brady Law and the Violent Crime Control Act of 1994, changed the licensing procedures for federal firearms licensees by increasing fees and requiring gun dealers to submit photographs and fingerprints as part of their applications.

Primarily because of the increased regulation, the number of federal firearms licensees dropped from about 282,000 in 1993 to fewer than 104,000 by 1999.

“The complaints from the gun-control groups [in the 1990s] were that there were way, way too many FFLs, and the government needed to crack down on and reduce the number of licensees,” said Lawrence Keane, general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry’s trade association. “Now all of a sudden, we’re hearing the gun control groups say there aren’t enough licenses, and everybody needs to have a license.”

One new proposal that CNN reported Sunday would also change the regulations related to how lost and stolen guns are investigated:

Gun control advocates are also anticipating that the administration will bolster regulations on the reporting of lost and stolen guns. Currently, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is only required to investigate a gun theft if 10 or more guns are stolen and one of them is used in a crime. The administration is expected to tighten those requirements by reducing the minimum number of guns stolen that would prompt an investigation, and potentially eliminating the requirement that one of the guns is used in a crime.

While all of this was either foreshadowed by the President in his weekly radio address on New Years Day or leaked from sources in the administration, neither source has been asked or volunteered to show how either of these actions would reduce crime committed with firearms.  In fact, as Bearing Arms.com reported earlier this morning, per-capita homicides are their lowest levels since the Federal Bureau of Investigation began tracking that data in 1960.

Barack Obama is wasting no time when it comes to restricting our Second Amendment rights.  He will hold a staged event with CNN on Thursday at George Mason University dressed up as a "Townhall", then announce his unconstitutional actions on Friday after announcing his actions on Tuesday., the anniversary of the Arizona shootings that critically wounded former congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

Virginia Beach City Council Approves Amended Anti-gun Proposal With Legislative Package

Pilot Online reported yesterday that the Virginia Beach City Council approved an amended anti-gun proposal Tuesday night to be included with their legislative requests for the 2015 session of the Virginia General Assembly.   The chief of police, who requested that the council make the request, said this isn't about gun control but a way to make it easier to reunite the owner with his or her lost or stolen firearm:

The agenda item - one of 26 recommendations by the council - came at the behest of police Chief Jim Cervera, faced with the exact problem Frost described. Cervera said the proposal is an administrative change to make it easier to reunite gun owners with their property, not a gun control initiative.

One has to ask, if this is simply a way to reunite the owner with their stolen property, why was the first request to make not reporting a Class 1 Misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail, and now an undetermined civil penalty?  I had the opportunity to discuss the issue yesterday with Cam Edwards of NRANews's Cam and Company.