Cheyenne, WY–You expect your crazy ex to slap you in the face. You don’t expect your Grandma to do it.
That’s how it feels when Republicans in traditionally pro-gun states file gun control bills. Gun owners in Wyoming are facing that crazy Grandma, and many might not even realize it.
Republican Bill Pownall, a disgraced former sheriff, has filed House Bill 59. This absolute trash bill would dump as many names as possible into the Federal NICS database.
He’s not alone in his efforts to stab gun owners in the back. Another Republican, Dan Kirkbridge of Chugwater has co-sponsored this filth. Oh, and Kirkbridge? He serves as the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
How nice! We elect these Republicans with support from gun owners and dollars from the Republican party coffers. Dollars that were donated in good faith by Republicans to advance a pro-gun, Republican agenda.
Then con-men like Republicans Pownall and Kirkbridge use the office WE put them in so they can advance gun control?!
Gun owners aren’t going to take that, boys.
And this isn’t the first time bills like this have been proposed. Similar legislation was killed in an interim committee last year thanks to the work of Wyoming Gun Owners. When grassroots gun owners found out what was happening in Cheyenne, they mobilized and pressured lawmakers into killing the bill.
Aaron Dorr, Political Director for Wyoming Gun Owners, told Northwest Gun News, “It’s absolutely shameful that backstabbing Republicans are helping Democrats dump more gun owner names into the government database. The NICS system has denied many innocent gun owners their firearm purchases since its inception.”
It’s Time To Nix NICS, Not Expand It!
In case you don’t remember what the big deal is with the NICS system, here’s a thirty-second refresher:
First, the background check system is unconstitutional. No such system should exist. Do you get a background check before you’re allowed your First Amendment right of free speech? Then why should you for the Second Amendment?
Second, as Dorr mentioned, many of the denials from the system are “false positives.” This means that gun owners who go to purchase a firearm are denied because their name has accidentally been added into the system. In fact, Professor John Lott from the Crime Research Prevention Center has estimated that 98% of denials are false-positives! And if they get you in there by mistake, it can take months or even years to get your name off the list!
Finally, the database system has no way of differentiating between those with dangerous mental illness and those who have just gone to talk to a counselor a time or two. Both sides holler about keeping guns from the mentally ill, but neither they nor NICS defines what that means! Do we disarm all veterans with PTSD? Do we put the names of anybody who visits a counselor even one time into NICS? Is anybody who has anxiety or depression and is medicating it automatically dangerous to themselves or others?
Who watches the watchers? Why, government officials and bureaucrats, of course!
See how this works? This is Red Flags Lite. Red Flags allow law enforcement to take away guns from people who they claim are mentally ill. How much easier does it get to get Red Flagged than to be on a list of mentally ill people in NICS because you went to visit a counselor a couple of times two years ago?
These two spineless “Red Flag Republicans” need to be run out of town for even dreaming about a bill like this, much less filing it!
It’s time for the grassroots in Wyoming to flex their muscle. Make the phone calls, send the emails, and make sure Pownall and Kirkland get the message LOUD and CLEAR! Take thirty seconds to fill out the form below to send a message to YOUR Wyoming legislators telling them that we’re not going to take one more inch of compromise from them!