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<\/a><\/p>\nErich Pratt | Gun Owners of America
\nThe Daily Caller<\/p>\n
William Barr\u2019s nomination for attorney general is very troubling for gun owners.<\/p>\n
Even the most liberal, anti-gun justice on the Supreme Court \u2014 Ruth Bader Ginsburg \u2014 didn\u2019t sit in the witness chair in the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell us she intended to shred the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n
Yet that is what Barr did this week when he told senators he supported gun confiscation orders.<\/p>\n
Of course, he led off with much milder rhetoric, telling Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) that \u201cthere\u2019s room for reasonable regulation\u201d on firearms laws \u2014 exactly the same lingo that Michael Bloomberg or Chuck Schumer would use. So much for the \u201cshall not be infringed\u201d protections in the Second Amendment!<\/p>\n
But now it has become clear: Barr\u2019s history as a gun control supporter goes back a long way.<\/p>\n
Consider that in 1991 \u2014 in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee \u2014 he endorsed semi-auto bans, magazine bans, background checks and more. Said Barr:<\/p>\n
On the assault weapon front, the proposal before us is the DeConcini amendment. And I think \u2026 I would support both the Brady Bill waiting period and the DeConcini amendment [semi-auto ban], provided that they were parts of a broader and more comprehensive crime bill that included \u2026 very tough provisions on the use of firearms in crimes and illegal purchase and trading in firearms.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Barr went on to endorse a comprehensive magazine ban as well.<\/p>\n
Amazingly, when speaking before the Senate on Tuesday, Barr may have perjured himself by denying he ever supported a semi-auto ban.<\/p>\n
When asked how his views from the early 1990s had changed after the Heller decision, Barr said: \u201cI think I opposed an assault weapons ban [in the early 1990s].\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, that\u2019s clearly not what he said, and he\u2019s obviously hoping that people don\u2019t view the C-Span\u00a0footage<\/a>\u00a0from 1991. [One can see Barr\u2019s remarks at the 1:42:23 mark.]<\/p>\n
During the Clinton administration, the semi-auto ban that Barr supported was signed into law \u2014 creating a backlash so extreme that Democrats who supported the \u201cBarr package\u201d were thrown out of Congress in large numbers for the first time in a generation.<\/p>\n
Gun control was shown to be a political loser.<\/p>\n
Given this fact \u2014 and given that President Trump had nominated Barr \u2014 we were hopeful this was evidence that Barr had come around over the past few years.<\/p>\n
Sadly, this is not the case. As noted, Barr\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday that his top gun priority will be gun confiscation orders:<\/p>\n
I also think we need to push along the ERPOs [or Gun Confiscation Orders], so we have red flag laws to supplement the use of the background check\u2026\u00a0 This is the single most important thing I think we can do in the gun control area to stop these massacres from happening in the first place.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Wherever these laws have been passed, people have had their firearms confiscated without due process. And sometimes, it has resulted in death.<\/p>\n
Consider the police shooting of 60-year-old Gary Willis of Ferndale, Maryland. Police\u00a0shot Willis to death<\/a>\u00a0when they showed up to confiscate his guns at 5:17 a.m.<\/p>\n
Willis is dead because of Maryland\u2019s Gun Confiscation Orders. His niece said, \u201cI\u2019m just dumfounded right now. My uncle wouldn\u2019t hurt anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let me repeat: gun control is a political loser for whichever party champions it. Americans threw Democrats out of office in 1994 \u2014 thereby giving control of Congress to Republicans \u2014 because of gun control like the semi-auto ban.<\/p>\n
Even President Bill Clinton acknowledged this on several occasions. \u201cThe fight for the assault-weapons ban cost 20 members their seats in Congress,\u201d Clinton said. He called it \u201cthe reason the Republicans control the House.\u201d<\/p>\n
So if Republicans wanted an issue to throw control of the Senate back to the Democrats in 2020, voting for William Barr \u2014 and supporting gun confiscation orders \u2014 seems like the perfect solution.<\/p>\n
Even Sen. Dianne Feinstein, after hearing Barr\u2019s plug for gun control on Tuesday, said: \u201cWell, thank you, I\u2019d like to work with you in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n
For these reasons and more, Americans must call on U.S. senators to oppose William Barr\u2019s nomination for attorney general.<\/p>\n
Erich Pratt is the executive director of\u00a0Gun Owners of America<\/a>, a grassroots organization representing more than 1.5 million gun owners.<\/em>\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n