FT 3-05: Fremont Gun Safety Act

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

A very thorough proposal: I do have some questions for the sponsor:

(1) With regard to the ban on possession of assault weapons in Section 2(3), what will happen with regards to citizens who already own these sorts of firearms? Will there be a buyback program, uncompensated confiscation, or will those who purchased assault weapons prior to August 2018 be allowed to keep them?
(2) How does the bill define "in public" with regard to Sections 2(5) and 2(7)? Does standing on my front lawn holding a squirrel gun constitute displaying a firearm in public? How does this effect public lands where hunting with firearms is currently legal?

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

This needs a clear definition of 'assault weapon.'

Agreed.  This is a critical element needed to proceed.

I'll second this.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I don't see any problems with this definition, though admittedly firearms are not my field of expertise. As RFayette is the member who requested a clarifying amendment, I wonder if he has any thoughts on the matter?

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Seeing no objection, we will now proceed to a final vote. Members will kindly vote AYE, NAY, or Abstain; voting will continue for 72 hours or until all Members have voted.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

This has been a difficult decision to reach, in no small part because it requires me to reconcile my understood duty, as an officer of the commonwealth, to "ensure domestic tranquility" with my belief, as a liberal, in the right of property. It has seemed to me the question at the balance is, does the right of private citizens to own what are here termed assault weapons infringe upon the ability of other private citizens to enjoy their own rights – specifically, the right to live.

On the one, it is evident that weapons in the hands of dangerous individuals can indeed pose a threat to domestic tranquility and the lives of innocents. It is for this reason that I have long supported efforts to strengthen laws regarding the buying and selling of firearms. I do not, and never have, believed that our constitutional right to keep and bear arms continues to the exclusion of all other rights; and so I consider it nothing short of irresponsible to neglect measures to ensure deadly weapons do not fall into the wrong hands. It is for this reason that I supported a program of universal background checks and a ban on the purchase of firearms by suspected terrorists while a candidate for president last year.

I am, however, uncomfortable with the extent to which this bill would disarm not only criminals and the mentally unstable, but also law-abiding gun owners. This strikes me as not unlike proposals to bar all Muslims from immigrating to Atlasia for fear that a tiny minority may be terrorists. In both cases, the solution is not a total moratorium on the dreaded thing, but a careful system of background checks and other measures designed to separate the peaceful from the violent.

For this reason, I cast my vote NAY.