Maloney Baloney

Clearly, soon-to-be former New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) has a visceral dislike of firearms, gun owners, gun makers and the Second Amendment, so when she recently introduced two new gun control measures, it was not really surprising.

What was surprising was how the legislative move was described by The Hill, a publication that’s been keeping an eye on Capitol Hill for decades. She “introduced two bills … targeting the firearm industry, setting new restrictions for supplying firearms to gun distributors and retailers and imposing a tax on certain guns.”

She’s not going be able to move those bills very far, however, since she got creamed in the Aug. 23 primary in which she was running to keep her seat in a newly reshaped district, where she ran up against fellow anti-gun Democrat Jerry Nadler. Their districts were combined into one, and she lost.

She will be remembered as the Democrat who virtually demanded in July that gun industry executives Chris Killoy at Ruger and Marty Daniel from Daniel Defense apologize for crimes committed by criminals and kooks — over whom neither company has any control— with their firearms. She wasn’t happy when neither would comply, and in our last column, we reported about Smith & Wesson CEO Mark Smith sending a letter to Maloney and her House Oversight Committee, essentially telling majority Democrats to pound sand.

Here’s what Maloney wants:

One measure would make it illegal for manufacturers or importers to sell firearms to any distributor or retail gun shop “known or suspected of engaging in practices that could pose a threat to the misuse or criminal use of a firearm.”

The other bill would levy a 20% tax on importers or manufacturers’ gross revenue if they sell so-called “semiautomatic assault weapons,” and use that revenue to fund some sort of “community violence intervention and prevention trust fund.” The Hill was candid enough to acknowledge neither measure will get much attention in the House, and “stand little chance in the 50-50 Senate.”

Some suggested it was a political stunt designed to highlight her anti-gun credentials as she was in a fight against Nadler. Obviously it didn’t work.

Maloney’s Dubious Explanation

According to a press release from her office, Maloney introduced the legislation “to combat gun violence amid a nationwide gun violence epidemic.” She calls the tax legislation the “Firearm Industry Fairness Act,” but what’s fair about holding gun makers “accountable for the widespread criminal misuse of their products?”

The congresswoman’s incredulous explanation for launching the tax proposal now is because, “Federal tax rates on firearms have not been updated in over 50 years — before assault weapons were available for civilian purchase. Currently, AR-15s are taxed at the same rate as an ordinary hunting rifle, even though they are far more dangerous and are the weapon of choice for mass shooters.”

Maloney again displayed a lack of knowledge about hunting rifles and the cartridges they use, and an AR-15 and the .5.56mm cartridge it uses. Well, let’s just compare such ammunition. Take a look at the accompanying image and guess which cartridge goes into the AR.

Maloney called her other bill the “Firearm Industry Crime and Trafficking Accountability Act,” a title certainly as preposterous as the “Inflation Reduction Act.”

She added this quote in her press release: “Last year, firearms cut short the lives of over 48 thousand Americans.”

But that’s not correct. Guns didn’t kill anybody last year or in any prior year. People misusing firearms are responsible, including the roughly two-thirds of those individuals who sadly committed suicide.

“Gun manufacturers must bear the cost of gun violence in this country, and as Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, that is exactly what I am doing,” said Rep. Maloney.

Not for much longer.

Between her and Nadler, there’s never been much difference on guns.

Gun Rights Conference Looms

The 37th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference is slated the weekend of Sept. 30-Oct. 2 in Dallas, Texas and the theme of this year’s event is “Target Victory!”

Co-sponsored by the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, this will be the first “live” event since 2019, prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, which resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of even cancellations all over the map, including GRPC.

According to SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, the conference attracts some of the biggest names and brightest minds in the Second Amendment movement. American Handgunner’s own Massad Ayoob is president of the foundation, and he will be there.

The conference will be held at the Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport hotel, 4545 W. John Carpenter Freeway, Irving.

For those who cannot attend in person, the conference may be watched on multiple virtual platforms including YouTube and Facebook. You will hear about the upcoming midterm election prospects, updates on legal affairs (SAF currently has at least 40 different lawsuits challenging state and local gun control laws on Second Amendment grounds), and a look at some of the pending legislation at the federal and state levels.

Speaking of Gun Legislation

Apparently not to be outdone by Maloney, Congressman Donald Beyer, representing the 8th Congressional District in northern Virginia, recently introduced his own bill, H.R. 8460.

This stinker, according to TheGunMag.com’s legislative watchdog Tanya Metaksa, would “allow BATFE (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) to create a national firearms registry … The bill would allow the government to keep background check information indefinitely.”

If the House switches hands Nov. 8, as many political prognosticators anticipate, this bill will be stone cold dead.

Repeal the 2A?

As if to demonstrate the silly season is in full swing, Alderman Reynolds Scott-Childress in Kingston, N.Y. recently proposed a memorializing resolution “calling for repealing the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

Can’t make this stuff up; Scott-Childress wanted to “start a conversation” about violent crime involving firearms. News flash for Alderman: That “conversation” has been going on for decades, and it’s no closer to resolution that it was when the argument started.

The good news, according to the Mid Hudson News, is that the committee tabled the resolution.

The ‘Next Front?’

Writing recently in The Washington Post, Darrell A.H. Miller — the Melvin G. Shimm professor of law at Duke University — raised an interesting question for the post-Bruen decision United States.

How are local or state governments going to define so-called “sensitive places” where it will still be a no-no to carry a defensive firearm now that the Supreme Court has ruled the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms outside the home. It’s a safe bet that political gun grabbers have been burning the midnight oil trying to figure out how far they can reach in trying to restrict legally-armed citizens from exercising their newly-restored carry rights in several states, the result of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

Miller makes some interesting observations about what may, or may not, constitute a “sensitive place.” He also acknowledged such designations will be open to legal challenge almost as a matter of course.

The Bruen ruling did away with the ridiculous notion that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was limited to the home. Such a right would be no right at all, for rights go with citizens everywhere, as opposed to a regulated government privilege.

Anyone expecting an end to the fight over Second Amendment rights happening anytime soon is guilty of wishful thinking.

Surprise! Victim was Armed

Chicago has experienced a record number of carjackings so far this year, but at least one suspected perp is on the injured list for the foreseeable future.

According to Fox News and the Chicago Police, a suspected would-be carjacker approached a man sitting in his car at about 1:27 a.m. on the morning of Aug. 22, gun in hand. As he got closer, he opened fire, but much to his surprise, the unidentified motorist was legally packing his own hardware and quickly shot back.

Faster than you can say “oops,” the suspect was on the ground in critical condition, plugged center-of-mass, the report explained. Chicago cops arrived and so did an aid car, whisking away the badly wounded suspect to a nearby hospital.

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