In this episode of Try to Control Your Shock and Amazement…
Gun Grabbin’ Joe Biden‘s proposed $6.69 trillion budget for fiscal year 2024 “shockingly” includes massive funding increases for the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for a further federal crackdown on the sale of legal firearms.
As reported by Daily Caller, the funding increase, part of a $17.8 billion “investment” in the DOJ’s federal law enforcement capacity, would be used to further regulate the firearms industry, create gun-trafficking strike forces, enforce enhanced background checks, and implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), according to the budget.
The ATF alone would receive $1.9 billion, a $200 million increase from the 2023 budget.
The FBI would receive $51 million to support the continued implementation of enhanced background checks required by the BSCA, implemented in 2022. Increased funding is also earmarked for the implementation of red flag laws.
Incidentally, the ATF has already implemented two final rules and increased requirements for gun dealers. The pistol stabilizing brace final rule and the ghost gun parts final rule received backlash after their implementations, with the ghost gun parts final rule currently subject to a temporary injunction by a federal judge, as noted by Daily Caller.
The ATF’s “zero tolerance” policy has been criticized by Republican lawmakers and Second Amendment advocacy groups, as Federal Firearm License (FFL) revocations hit a 16-year high in 2022 under the rule. Rather than going through the previous multi-step processes, the agency now often pulls licenses for a multitude of “willful” violations.
Gun Owners of America’s director of federal affairs Aidan Johnston told the Daily Caller News Foundation:
That’s not how regulatory agencies are supposed to work in the sector that they’re supposed to regulate. They are supposed to help the companies, (and) they’re supposed to ensure compliance, but they’re not supposed to punish and destroy an entire industry based on just political opposition or political distaste.
Think about it. Imagine the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration interacting with the American auto industry in a similar manner. Yes, the ATF is involved in chasing bad guys far more than the NHTSA, but firearms manufacturers and law-abiding gun owners are not bad guys.
How many times have we been through this, and how many more times will revisit it? Rather than do it, here, let’s just revisit a couple of relevant axioms.
First, generally, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Untold numbers of cases exist to prove the point, and those cases will continue to occur, thank God.
Second, evil people evil intent on committing evil acts don’t follow the law (and don’t even get me started on idiotic “gun-free zone” nonsense). Moreover, evil people intent on killing as many people as possible are going to ultimately do so, by whatever means at their disposal. If access to firearms isn’t available, then perhaps a knife. Or maybe a fertilizer bomb. Options abound.
Evil might be insane, America — but seldom is it stupid.
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