Media Silent as Trump Administration Gives Power Over Gun Control to Federal Agencies
While the media focuses on Trump’s lack of support for an increase in age requirements for gun owners, his support for a bill that would put every American’s Second Amendment rights in jeopardy has been ignored.
By Rachel Blevins
TheFreeThoughtProject.com
March 14, 2018
The Trump Administration has announced its support for a number of measures involving gun control, and not surprisingly, the mainstream media has chosen to highlight the measure that would have little effect, while ignoring the administration’s support for a bill that would have a devastating impact on the Second Amendment.
CNBC’s headline said, “Trump gun proposal skips age limits, focuses on teaching educators how to use guns instead,” and BBC News went with “Trump drops calls to raise guns age limit.” The media’s coverage has relied heavily on the idea that if the legal minimum age requirement for gun purchases was raised from 18 to 21, then it may have an effect on stopping mass shootings—without taking any other legitimate factors into consideration.
“On 18 to 21 Age Limits, watching court cases and rulings before acting. States are making this decision,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Things are moving rapidly on this, but not much political support (to put it mildly).”
However, while the media focused on Trump’s response to age requirements, they ignored the support he pledged for one of the most egregious bills being considered by Congress. H.R. 4477, the Fix NICS Act, states that it would amend the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to “require each federal agency and department, including a federal court, to certify whether it has provided to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) disqualifying records of persons prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm.”
As The Free Thought Project reported in December, the Fix NICS Act will pressure federal agencies and states to report as many names as possible to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, “making it only a matter of time before this list becomes so large that nearly any activity could serve to remove your Second Amendment rights.”
Although versions of the bill have been proposed in both the Senate and the House, and have received support from Republicans, Democrats and even the National Rifle Association, Rep. Thomas Massie warned that Congress will try to pass the Fix NICS Act by rolling it into another bill that looks harmless.
Congress first tried to accomplish this in late 2017 by including the Fix NICS Act in H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which states that its purpose is to amend “the federal criminal code to allow a qualified individual to carry a concealed handgun into or possess a concealed handgun in another state that allows individuals to carry concealed firearms.”
When that bill was stalled, they shifted their attention to H.R. 4909, the STOP School Violence Act, which is supposed to be voted on this week. Massie warned that the supporters of the Fix NICS Act will use the STOP School Violence Act to “sugar coat it,” in order to obtain their original objective.
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