Amidst a host of mass shootings mushrooming around the country in the past few months, the Senate has been compelled to propose a new bill that would result in better gun safety legislation. The American public championed the bill, but almost as soon as that happened, the National Rifle Association announced it would not support the new bill, citing that it would open the door to “unnecessary burdens on the exercise of Second Amendment freedom.”
It comes as no surprise as the NRA has played similar moves like this in the past.
A statement by the association was shared on Tuesday via The Hill contends that while it will support proposed legislation that will “improve school safety, promote mental health services, and help reduce violence,” it will oppose the gun control legislation “because it falls short at every level.”
“It does little to truly address violent crime while opening the door to unnecessary burdens on the exercise of Second Amendment freedom by law-abiding gun owners,” the statement continues.
The NRA also noted that the legislation can be abused to restrict lawful gun purchases and fund gun control measures implemented by local and state governments, adding that the bill will interfere with — their age-old adage — “our constitutional freedoms.”
“Decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Heller and McDonald cases make clear that the Second Amendment is an individual constitutional freedom,” the association concluded in its statement. “We will always fight for those freedoms – and the fundamental values we have defended for over 150 years”
The bipartisan bill, the first of its kind in nearly 30 years, was packed full of initiatives and incentives that would seem reasonable to any logical politician. Items such as funding for school safety resources, expanded background checks for buyers under the age of 21, inducements for states to implement their own “red flag” laws, penalties for straw purchases of firearms, and new protections for domestic violence victims were included in the bill.
And with expectations for it to pass in the Senate, the NRA standing against the framework of the bill gives the energy that more disrespect is on the way.
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