Over the months since the Tucson massacre, not much has happened in Washington to address the problem, which is Too many guns, Too easy access. Inaction is understandable. They’re all afraid of the big bad NRA and the gun netherworld behind it. There is another reason: following Justice Scalia’s Supreme Court opinion in the Heller case, extended to all other jurisdictions under the McDonald opinion, all gun control is now in doubt. There is only one way to solve this problem and that is to take it head on: Repeal the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. I propose Amendment Resolution and Legislation as follows:
Phase 1 – The Resolution, Format is from H.J.RES. 438, 102nd Congress::
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States repealing the right to keep and bear arms.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid for all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States at any time after the date of its submission for ratification:
‘Article–
1. Any right to keep and bear arms, whether under the Second Amendment to this Constitution, or under some pre-existing doctrine of natural law or common law or otherwise, or under Constitution or laws of any State, is repealed.
2. The privilege to keep and bear arms throughout the United States shall be under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.’
Phase 2 – A Tax; Following adoption of the constitutional amendment, a bill to tax:
1. There is imposed an annual tax on each and every firearm in any household as follows:
a. first firearm, $10
b. second firearm, $20
c. third firearm, $30
d. fourth through ninth firearms, $100 each
e. firearms in excess of the ninth, $1,000 each.2. This tax is assessed and payable on each April 15 for firearms held by a household at the end of the preceding year, to be paid with a schedule listing firearm type, manufacturer and serial number, the schedule submitted along with the tax return of such member of the household as the members of the household may choose, with other members attaching a copy of that schedule to their tax returns as well indicating by which member the tax will be paid. Where firearms are owned by a partnership, if there is only one general partner the arms shall be included with the schedule of that general partner; where there is more than one general partner, the partners shall choose which partner will report the firearms. Where firearms are owned by a corporation, the corporation shall report and pay tax as if it were a household. Where fiscal years do not coincide with calendar years, reporting shall be as of the end of the previous fiscal year. Where firearms are owned by a legitimate museum, the museum shall report the ownership annually as if it were a household, but shall be exempt from the tax except for the penalties in section 4 below. Sham transfers, that is, transfers to a legitimate museum or to an entity with a different fiscal year, and then back again, shall be reported and taxed as if there had been no transfer. Sham exports, that is, export followed by reimportation shall be reported by and taxed to the exporter as if there had been no export. If a firearm has no serial number, the owner shall apply to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for the assignment of one, and upon receipt of the assigned serial number shall indelibly engrave that number at a suitable location upon the firearm.
3. This tax may be avoided by selling the firearm to a licensed gun dealer or by turning the firearm over to an official firearm collection location or by export before December 31 of the prior year. Once a month such collection locations shall turn collected firearms over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for destruction, except that the Bureau may withhold from destruction such firearms as are of historical interest for later donation to an appropriate museum. A manufacturer, wholesaler or licensed gun dealer may avoid the tax on an individual firearm by selling it to a licensed gun dealer or a legitimate manufacturer or wholesaler or by the other methods in this Section by which anyone may avoid the tax on possession. A licensed gun dealer may also avoid the tax on possession of an individual firearm by selling it to a properly screened legitimate buyer
4. Any firearm lost or stolen will incur a $1,000 penalty in the reporting year it was lost or stolen. For any such lost or stolen firearm that is subsequently recovered by the owner that $1,000 penalty shall be rescinded and refunded, except if the firearm has been used in the commission of a crime chargeable as a felony an additional $1,000 penalty will be imposed.
5. For each firearm sold by a licensed firearm dealer that is subsequently used in the commission of a crime chargeable as a felony a $1,000 penalty will be imposed against that dealer for each such year in which that firearm was used in such a crime.
6. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Internal Revenue Service shall jointly promulgate regulations for administering this Act.
Join me. Run for Congress. Fix this.
Best wishes,
–Mike Barkley, Candidate for Congress, http://www.mjbarkl.com/run.htm
Edit:
Scott wrote:
> So, try to take our guns and we’ll kill you. Clear enough?
dennischendrickssr wrote:
> If no one else kills you I will.
Whiskeybravo1 wrote:
> Let’s get a rope……..
etc.
You guys might check out 18 USC Section 875(c) (see FindLaw web site for instance) and consider toning it down a bit. The appropriate response would be for you to run for Congress yourselves or lobby your own Congressman if you disagree with me. Note that if I had filed papers for the Office of President instead of for Congress, y’all would now be candidates for John W. Hinkley Jr.’s roommate.
Best wishes, –Mike