HCI's CPHV Launches Backdoor Attack
On Second Amendment
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"...If bureaucrats are empowered to determine how firearms must be designed, it would be far too easy... to impose standards that would be impossible for any gun maker to meet..." |
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After coming to grips with the fact that the extremist
anti-gun agenda has been steadily losing its appeal with many
politicians over the last few years, opponents of our Right
to Keep and Bear Arms have been exploring ways to circumvent the
legislative process to achieve their goals. This week, the
Center to Prevent Handgun Violence (CPHV) unveiled its latest
effort - a campaign by its Legal Action Project to urge the
attorneys general of at least 20 states to contort and abuse
consumer protection laws in an all-out assault on lawful gun
manufacturers.
This attack is modeled after the anti-gun regulations imposed
last April in Massachusetts that have had a disastrous impact
on firearms dealers in the Bay State, effectively
banning the sale handguns until and unless they
meet the state's criteria.
The regulations impose a number of arbitrary design standards
on gun manufacturers, such as a mandate to include a second,
"hidden" serial number on new handguns. These standards
have absolutely no connection to what the law calls
"unfair and deceptive practices," and even though gun
makers have never been found to be guilty of such practices, the
state nonetheless imposed design regulations that range from the
bizarre to the pointless.
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"...[HCI] can't wait for
Congress to act..." |
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-- HCI Pres. Mike Barnes |
CPHV President Mike Barnes - also President of CPHV's
sister organization, HCI - admitted that the reason his
organization was attempting to coerce attorneys general into
helping promote CPHV's (and HCI's) unpopular agenda is because
the group is ineffective in the normal legislative policy
process. Barnes stated his organization "can't wait for
Congress to act" on legislation imposing new regulations on
the design of firearms, so it must pursue this backdoor strategy
instead.
But Barnes and CPHV/HCI are selling this assault on lawful gun
makers under two basic misconceptions promoted by anti-gun
extremists.
- First is the false premise that accidents due
to firearms are a severe and increasing problem. However,
firearm-related accidental fatalities are lower now than they
have ever been in this country. In fact, accidental
fatalities involving firearms declined 50% during the decade
1989-1998. The decrease in firearm-related accidental
fatalities can be attributed to law-abiding, responsible gun
owners taking part in firearm safety programs, such as those
developed by NRA - not because of government regulations.
- The second misconception promoted by anti-gun extremists to
further this latest attack is the idea that firearm manufacturers
are not subject to any regulations. Barnes, et al., know this to
be untrue. While U.S. firearms makers are not subject to
regulation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, they are
subject to numerous national regulations administered by
BATF and detailed in a publication of some 152 pages of
very small type. In addition, all U.S. gun makers already comply
with federal, state, and local laws, and their manufacturing
standards are reviewed by FBI, the U.S. Customs Service, various
other public and private agencies, and even the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police.
Industry standards are set by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition
Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI), an organization founded in
1926 at the request of the federal government. Today, SAAMI
publishes more than 700 standards related to firearm and
ammunition quality and safety. SAAMI is an accredited standards
developer for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI),
and the standards established by SAAMI are reviewed by outside
parties, such as the National
Institute of Standards and Technology. Every five years
the validity of the standards is re-affirmed. The U.S. Armed
Forces, the FBI, and many other state and local agencies
frequently require that their firearms are manufactured in
accordance with SAAMI specifications.
The problems with CPHV's demands are many. - First,
bureaucrats who know nothing about firearms, firearm engineering,
firearm uses, or the preferences of consumers, are ill-suited to
make such decisions.
- Second, it is dangerous to
presume that all firearms should be designed the same, without
concern for the varied needs of individual gun owners and the
purposes for which firearms are used.
- Third, the notion that safety with firearms can be
achieved by
mandates on design of guns themselves, rather than by the conduct
of gun owners, flies in the face of decades of firearm safety
training and the steady and pronounced decline in fatal firearm
accidents that has been achieved through training over several
decades. Would-be gun-regulators suggest that guns could be
designed so that they could be presumed to be unloaded and, thus,
handled with utter disregard for standard, safe gun operation
procedure. Obviously, such an approach is dangerous.
Firearms should never be presumed to be "unloaded"; they
should always be handled according to strict firearm safety
rules.
Ultimately, however, the central problem with giving gun-ban
proponents input into how firearms should be designed and
manufactured is simple. If bureaucrats are empowered to
determine how firearms must be designed, it would be far too easy
for a bureaucrat who supports banning all firearms to impose
standards that would be impossible for any gun maker to meet.
The announcement of the CPHV's latest attack should confirm what
most in the pro-Second Amendment community already knew -
anti-gun extremists will try to promote their agenda
through whatever means possible. With Clinton and Gore
gone, even anti-gun activists in Congress seem reluctant to
continue to promote attacks on the Second Amendment.
The CPHV's attempt to manipulate attorneys general at the state
level represents a serious threat, and highlights its shift in
strategy to promoting its anti-gun agenda at the state and local
levels, rather than in Congress. This latest campaign is similar
to the one promoting reckless lawsuits filed in big cities
against lawful gun makers in an attempt to hold them responsible
for the acts of criminals - another campaign supported by
CPHV/HCI. Take the time to contact your
state's attorney general if he is one of the 20 targeted by
CPHV/HCI, and urge him to oppose this latest effort.
For information on how to contact your state's attorney general,
or to find out if he is on the CPHV/HCI target list, call the ILA
Grassroots Division at (800) 392-8693.
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HCI's constant attacks on the Second Amendment
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