One Small Step Forward, and a Giant Leap Backwards for Gun Reform.

​Congressional leaders are patting themselves on the back for passing a bipartisan bill on new gun regulations. But even before the President signed the bill into law, the Supreme Court overruled a New York law which will make it easier for Americans to own and carry a gun in public.

The Republicans view the epidemic of gun violence as a mental illness problem, not as a gun problem. The Democrats’ hopes for meaningful gun reform have been vanquished for the foreseeable future by the Supreme Court’s rigid interpretation of the 2nd Amendment.
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Let’s take a look at recent developments.
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Bipartisan Safer Communities Act: (https://www.murphy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/bipartisan_safer_communities_act_one_pager.pdf)

This bill was signed into law by President Biden on June 25, 2022. Here are the highlights of the new law:

• Enhanced background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21. Law enforcement will be required to check juvenile and mental health records for 18-20 year-olds seeking to purchase a gun. To appease Republicans, this provision will expire after ten years.
• Provides $750 million to help states implement “red flag laws”.
• Strengthens laws against gun trafficking.
• Expands the list of people designated as “domestic abusers”, who are therefore banned from acquiring guns.
• Provides funding for community violence intervention programs, mental health services, and school safety.

Any new regulation that has the potential to save even one life is a step in the right direction. But this bill is more about political theater than it is about meaningful gun reform. It was politically expedient for the Republicans to go along with the Democrats to craft a bipartisan bill in the face of the epidemic of gun violence. The bill will quiet Republican critics long enough to get them through the midterm elections, and it fits their narrative that the gun problem is actually a mental illness problem.
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The compromise bill (it is actually more of a capitulation) is seen as a victory by the Democrats who have been working for decades on gun safety legislation. I see the new law as another failure of the Congress to enact meaningful gun reforms. It is little more than a tiny band-aid on a gaping wound that won’t be healed until the 2nd Amendment is repealed or replaced. 

Supreme Court Strikes Down New York Gun Law: On June 23, 2022 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf. The Court’s decision overrules a New York law that required adults seeking a permit to carry a concealed weapon in public to demonstrate a need to do so. The Court ruled that the 2nd Amendment provides a broad right of the individual to arm themselves in public, and New York (or any other state) cannot place restrictions on that right.  

According to the Court’s majority opinion, written by Clarence Thomas, the 2nd Amendment protects “an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.” He went on to write that “The government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulations.”
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This decision has ramifications throughout the country, and will bring legal challenges to any current or future gun control measures enacted by the states. The direction of the Supreme Court on gun regulations is now clear. The 2nd Amendment right of the individual to own and bear arms is chiseled in stone, and states have limited authority to restrict that right.  

America’s Gun Problem: As much as the Republican Party would like you to believe, the mental health system cannot stop mass shootings in America. Only a small fraction of mass shootings are conducted by people with mental illness. It is very difficult to determine who will commit gun violence, and to focus too much on mental health is a mistake.
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There are volumes of good research on gun violence conducted by the Rand Corporation, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and many others, if you care to look. David Brooks wrote an interesting article recently, titled “Why Mass Shooters Do the Evil They Do”. I found it very interesting, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/07/opinion/mass-shooters-motive.html.

The only thing that connects all perpetrators of gun violence is access to guns, and America is awash in them. All of the guns used in the high-profile mass shootings this summer were purchased legally. The mental health system cannot solve this problem.
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If the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” is the best that Congress can deliver, we might as well add “gun violence” to the other certainties of American life, “death and taxes”. Don’t let your member of Congress use this new law as an excuse to rest on their laurels. Americans deserve to be safe when they go to school, walk down the street, shop at a grocery store, or attend a 4th of July parade. 

Teenager with AR-15

Teenager Drinking Beer

​One of these two activities is illegal. Which do you think poses the biggest threat to your family?

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Thanks,
Armchair American