Coalition Letter in Opposition to New Gun Control Package

June 16, 2022

Washington, DC

This past Sunday, conservatives learned that ten Senate Republicans have agreed to a large scale gun control package with some of the Senate’s most radical Democrats. The announced framework includes egregious provisions which are all-but-guaranteed to result in widespread violations of Americans’ constitutional rights. In progressive-led states, these provisions could result in de facto partisan, door-to-door weapons confiscation.

Among the measures outlined in the agreement:

• Federal money to coerce states to implement unconstitutional “red flag” gun confiscation orders that violate due process rights;
• Additional federal money for states to close the “boyfriend loophole” in an illogical manner.
• Harassment of licensed gun dealers through ineffective “pre-sale” regulatory requirements;
• Arbitrary requirements to enhance screening for adults between the ages of 18 and 20;
• Potential implementation of a backdoor Universal Background Check system under the guise of “clarifying” the definition of a federally licensed firearm dealer.

It is unlikely that these policies will have any meaningful impact on reducing crimes where a gun is used by a violent criminal. However, it is clear that such provisions pose significant threats to law-abiding Americans’ fundamental constitutional rights, especially the right to defend themselves and their families at a time when violent crime is soaring to historic highs.

In this political climate, Americans are right to be concerned how these proposed powers will be carried out by politicized bodies who have shown themselves to be increasingly hostile to conservatives..

Despite the apparent serious constitutional violations in the proposed framework, at least ten Republican senators agreed to meet the Democrats’ radical demands.

Conservatives have good ideas on how to reduce crimes where guns are used. It is unfortunate that the current framework fails to prioritize policies designed to address the broken social and cultural institutions that habitually fall short of meeting the needs of American communities.

As such, conservatives are universally opposed to this gun control framework agreement and ask that the House and Senate reject this proposal and focus on protecting Americans from crime as opposed to attacking their constitutional liberties.

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