Scanning the pro-gun Congress, NRA takes aim at wiping out state firearms laws

The National Rifle Association leadership looks out at Capitol Hill, scanning the new Republican-controlled Congress, and sees opportunity.

The NRA has declared the new House and Senate a decidedly pro-Second Amendment Congress and the pro-gun group’s top priority is the passage of a law that would expand concealed-carry provisions to the entire nation, regardless of state laws declaring otherwise.

That would mean pro-NRA types carrying pistols on the streets in states where concealed-carry is currently severely restricted.

Gun safety advocates have to wonder, how long before the push for expansion of concealed-carry might lead to a federal law allowing another NRA hot-button topic: open-carry provisions across state lines.
A demonstration of open-carry rights in Michigan this past week resulted in Lamphere High School in Madison Heights going into lockdown mode twice after a man loitered outside with a rifle strapped to his shoulder.

According to The Hill, the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act reintroduced last month by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) would stick to the immediate issue by allowing people with concealed carry permits in one state to carry their guns into other states.
Under the new Congress, the debate has shifted from universal background checks, with a flurry of bills going down to defeat after the 2012 Newtown school massacre – despite overwhelming public support – to a push for more deadly weaponry.

As The Hill reported, the NRA flexed its muscle this past week, pressuring the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to shelve a plan that would have prohibited the sale of certain types of armor-piercing bullets used in high-powered AR-15 rifles.
The NRA and other gun groups stepped forward with an aggressive misinformation campaign that led the ATF to back down.
The ATF bullet ban proposed in February was pulled back Tuesday after the agency was overwhelmed with nearly 90,000 public comments, the “vast majority” of which were negative, officials said.
The move angered congressional Democrats and gun control advocates, who responded with appeals urging the agency to revive the proposal.

“The question remains, ‘Why would a civilian need to walk the streets with a handgun chambered with military-grade, armor-piercing ammunition?’” asked Jonathan Hutson, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

The bullet ban was aimed at armor-piercing legislation that has traditionally been used in AR-15 “hunting rifles,” but can also be fired from handguns.
The ATF retreat came despite a federal law passed nearly 30 years ago, during the Reagan administration, which banned armor piercing bullets for the public.
The reason for that statute was obvious: these bullets are a danger to police because they can pierce body armor and are more easily concealed by criminals in handguns.

As for the outrage expressed by gun enthusiasts that said the proposed ban was the first step by the Obama administration to render AR-15s useless, the ATF pointed out there are no fewer than 168 other types of bullets that would still be allowed for use in AR-15 rifles.

The NRA may have also scored another subtle victory in this process. Quite a few news reports about the proposed bullet ban have routinely referred to the AR-15, a menacing rifle styled after military weaponry, as “AR-15 hunting rifles.”

Where did that language come from? One of the most effective arguments put forward by gun control groups in arguing for a ban on assault weapons and semi-automatic assault-style weapons, such as the highly popular AR-15, was that many hunters and outdoorsmen have said they see no purpose in using this type of heavy weaponry for hunting.

If the NRA can make the label “AR-15 hunting rifles” a common phrase across America, they will have succeeded beyond all expectations.