Opinion
By Larry Keane
Congress must renew the assault weapons ban.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) July 27, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris made a seven-word demand over the weekend that could lead to the exact opposite of what she wants should she become the next occupant of The White House. She posted on social media, “Congress must renew the assault weapons ban.”
It’s not surprising. Banning Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), or AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles, is the “white whale” of gun control activists. That’s despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed the expired 1994 ban didn’t reduce crime and more Americans lawfully own an MSR today than ever before. The Biden-Harris administration can only thank themselves for that distinction.
Now the presumptive Democratic nominee to be president, a few of Vice President Harris’s close allies and some of gun control’s loudest voices in Congress are the ones that have made a ban on MSRs likely less attainable. That includes recent congressional hearing comments from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Unintended Recognition
When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Heller decision in 2008, the Court stated that that entire classes of commonly-owned firearms cannot be banned from legal sale and possession by law-abiding citizens. In the 5-4 decision, the Court held, “Private citizens have the right under the Second Amendment to possess an ordinary type of weapon and use it for lawful, historically established situations such as self-defense in a home, even when there is no relationship to a local militia.”
“Commonly owned,” “typically possessed” and “ordinary” are key words here. Gun control activists love to claim MSRs are “weapons of war.” “No one needs an AR-15 to hunt deer,” the President Joe Biden loves to claim. But NSSF industry reporting shows law-abiding Americans continue to ignore the hyperbole, opting instead to purchase MSRs in record numbers, especially over the past four years. Today, there are over 28.1 million of these rifles in circulation. They are the most popular selling centerfire rifle in America and more common than Ford F-150s on the road today (the most popular selling pickup truck in America). The idea of banning these semiautomatic rifles doesn’t pass the sniff test, much less Constitutional muster. But Rep. Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t read that memo.
In a U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee hearing about the attempted assassination attempt on former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, the New York congresswoman made a significant stumble in her attempts to call for more gun control. Questioning former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned the day after the hearing, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez admitted something, in the Congressional Record, that she might wish she phrased differently.
“The individual used an AR-15 in order to act out his assassination attempt. An AR-15 has a range of about four-to-six hundred yards,” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez began. “My question is why does the Secret Service perimeter, why is the Secret Service protective perimeter shorter than one of the most popular semiautomatic weapons in the United States?” In a follow up to the former director’s initial response, the congresswoman also used the term “common” in referencing MSRs.
Separately from Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s time questioning the former director on firearms, several additional Democrats on the committee used their time to call for more gun control, including Reps. Gerry Connelly (D-Va.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Washington, D.C., Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.
SCOTUS Dissent Recognition
The recent Supreme Court Cargill decision was celebrated by gun rights advocates not only because it brushed back the administrative state that constantly oversteps its authority to create law absent action by Congress, but also because, as Bearing Arms’ Tom Knighton pointed out, the Court’s dissent authors – namely Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor – recognized semiautomatic rifles as increasingly ubiquitous in America today.
“Justice Sonia Sotomayor isn’t exactly a fan of the Second Amendment,” Knighton wrote. “And yet, her dissent in Cargill is a treasure for gun rights advocates fighting for our rights in lower courts.”
Knighton continued to dissect Justice Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion, including her use of the phrase “commonly available, semiautomatic rifles,” when describing MSRs. Knighton continued by highlighting the argument that Justice Sotomayor’s use of the words “commonly available” to describe semiautomatic rifles, “matched up to the Supreme Court’s prior position in D.C. v. Heller that firearms ‘in common use’ are protected by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”
“Sotomayor’s admission that the AR-15 is commonly available essentially means it’s in common use,” Knighton wrote. “After all, a gun doesn’t become commonly available unless there’s a sufficient market for it, which means it’s in common use.”
As mentioned previously, NSSF data conservatively estimates there are more than 28.1 million MSRs in circulation today, a figure that has risen dramatically during the Biden-Harris administration. NBC News noted in a report about the rising popularity of the firearm, “AR-15s are popular in part because they are relatively easy to use. They have comparatively little recoil and can be customized with accessories, such as optics, scopes and pistol grips that improve comfort and accuracy.”
It’s a good time to remember Justice Sotomayor was confirmed to the Court under the Obama-Biden administration, that the Biden-Harris ticket was deemed “the most anti-gun presidential ticket” in history and that the surge in firearm purchases by law-abiding Americans has happened during the Biden-Harris administration, creating the most diverse gun-owning community ever.
Now, in the midst of a presidential election year with Vice President Harris calling for stricter gun control, firearm sales could surge again – a trend every four years in a presidential campaign ramp-up.
On the Horizon
The Supreme Court decided to hold off for now taking up a challenge to the so-called “assault weapon” ban law in Illinois, Barnett v. Raoul, in which NSSF is a plaintiff. With the Supreme Court’s majority firmly on the side of gun rights, NSSF was disappointed in their decision to punt, though not all that surprised. The decision not to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s decision at this early stage of the litigation does not mean the Supreme Court will not review the matter later after final judgment. The Supreme Court denied review now because the U.S. Court of Appeals has not yet issued a final judgment.
Justice Samuel Alito noted he would have granted the petition now and Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, “This Court is rightly wary of taking cases in an interlocutory posture. But, I hope we will consider the important issue presented by these petitions after the cases reach final judgment.”
With Election Day 2024 looming large in only three months, the landscape in Washington, D.C. at The White House and on Capitol Hill could change dramatically. While Democratic legislators failed to pass a so-called “assault weapon” ban while holding the majorities in the House and Senate with President Biden in the Oval Office between 2021-2022, new ban legislation is already waiting for action and Vice President Harris has already made it crystal clear what her priority is. In 2019, when then-Sen. Harris made a short-lived run for The White House dropping out before the Iowa caucuses, she promises as president she would take executive action to ban MSRs. That wasn’t radical enough, though. She also supported a plan to forcibly confiscate lawfully-owned MSRs from owners.
One other priority is also clear – Second Amendment advocates of all stripes need to register to vote and #GUNVOTE on Nov. 5 so they don’t risk their rights.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
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