PA Bill Number: HB2311

Title: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program.

Description: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program. ...

Last Action: Laid on the table

Last Action Date: Sep 23, 2024

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Stuck on stupid: Capitol Hill antis unveil another 'smart' gun scheme :: 06/04/2015

Anti-gun New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was joined yesterday by Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey for the introduction of yet another so-called “smart gun” scheme, this one dubbed the Handgun Trigger Safety Act, which mandates the exclusive manufacture of so-called “personalized handguns,” according to The Hill.

This is the second time in a week that Maloney has floated a gun control measure that, according to critics, is a non-starter. That measure would require every gun owner to carry liability insurance.

Yesterday’s measure also requires retro-fitting of existing handguns with the technology by dealers within ten years before guns may be re-sold. Dealers would have “to install smart gun technology that fires only if it recognizes the shooter, such as the person who purchased the gun or someone they designate as an authorized user.” The legislation also provides for reimbursement on the cost of installing the technology, and grant funding to “qualified entities” to develop “personalized handgun” technology, which so far has not been reliable, say critics.

Eric Reed, president and founder of Gun Rights Across America, wrote on Facebook this morning, “More Bull----- from your friendly neighborhood democrats.” He further posted a blog entry on BuzzPro that noted, “This bill is nothing more than a ‘feel good bill; smoke and mirrors,’ all while squandering your precious tax dollars.”

Both Maloney and Markey are Democrats, and there is another bill, sponsored by more Democrats, that would earmark $10 million annually from Fiscal year 2016 through FY 2021 “for the purpose of conducting or supporting research on firearms safety or gun violence prevention under the Public Health Service Act.”

This second bill provides funds to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct the kind of gun control research that got the agency in trouble some years ago, resulting in Congressional action to withhold that research money. Among the sponsors of this legislation are perennial anti-gun Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Washington State’s own Patty Murray.

For the unenlightened, this is how “entitlements” are created. Don’t think for a heartbeat that if this bill passes now, an effort to re-finance it will be introduced in 2020, and after that, it will become part of the budget. The taxes of gun owners will be used to push questionable research to further restrict their rights.

Under the Maloney-Markey scheme announced Tuesday, the “personalized” technology would be required on all new handguns within five years. That’s not a “back door” handgun control plan; it’s one that is pounding on the castle gates. New Jersey passed such a law some years ago, but now lawmakers there are considering a repeal.

Whether this proposal has any chance of passing out of committee, much less getting through Congress, is less important than what its introduction represents. There has been a lot of news over the past several days about various gun control efforts, and now is a good time for Second Amendment activists to start wondering why.

The other day the Obama administration revealed it would be pushing a dozen regulations through the Justice Department, without benefit of Congressional oversight or consideration. Last week it was Maloney’s insurance bill. Yesterday it was this “smart gun” measure and the CDC funding proposal. (See links below.)

Don’t forget the attempt earlier this year to ban the M855 ammunition for modern sporting rifles. Add the continued, creeping state-by-state push of so-called “universal background check” measures, which in reality appear to be nothing more than gun registration schemes, and it all combines to be what analysts call “warning signals.”

With 20 months remaining in Barack Obama’s administration, and Hillary Rodham Clinton warming up in the wings for what many believe will be her coronation as the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, the gun prohibition movement is firing up its engine. Fueled by anti-gun billionaires like Michael Bloomberg, anti-gunners saw a green light for their intensified efforts with the passage last fall of Initiative 594 in Washington state.

If the nation’s beleaguered gun owners intend to stop this onslaught, it will take much more than keyboard commando chest thumping on Internet gun forums or Facebook. It requires the kind of grassroots activism that far too many in the Second Amendment community seem to take for granted, thinking somebody else will do the job.

Remember what dad said (and all dads say this), if you want a job done right, do it yourself.

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