Washington, DC -(AmmoLand.com)- In response to the July 12, 2016 introduction of the so called “HEART Act” gun ban introduced by Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), NFA Freedom Alliance Executive Director Todd Rathner issued the following statement:
The Markey/Gallego gun ban proposal is nothing short of an outright attack on the right of parents to decide when and how to introduce their children to the American heritage of outdoor sports.
Their craven assault on parental authority and Second Amendment rights would eliminate the ability for a parent to choose the manner and type of gun safety and self-defense training they believe is best for their family.
As it is drafted, this bill would prohibit a parent from allowing their child to hunt or target shoot with millions of the most common, popular, and safe firearms in existence.
Including the ubiquitous Ruger 10/22 .22 caliber rifle⎯the most popular rimfire rifle in America⎯if it has common features such as a threaded barrel, folding stock, or a pistol grip.
If a parent hands a gun on this massive “ban list” (see the entire list of banned guns in document below) to their child, the parent could go to federal prison In fact, thousands of law-abiding American parents have a threaded barrel on their .22 caliber rifles specifically to allow them to attach personal safety equipment like a sound suppressor to protect the hearing of their children while training, hunting, or target shooting.
The sheer absurdity of this bill demonstrates just how far radical, nanny-state extremists like Senator Markey and Rep. Gallego really want to inject big government into America’s families.
As is typical from anti-gun politicians, the sponsors of this bill falsely represented the scope of their bill in a patently misleading effort to paint a picture of “reasonable” regulations. The two tragedies that are being macabrely leveraged by Senator Markey and Rep. Gallego to promote their irrational, anti-heritage agenda could have been avoided with better training and by following basic rules of gun safety.
This terminally – flawed and emotionally – driven bill proves that legislation should be based on the Constitution, sound policy, and evidence of broad social utility. Instead of offering a legitimate solution, this proposal creates new problems and would criminalize longstanding American traditions.
About the NFA Freedom Alliance:
The NFA Freedom Alliance is the strongest direct action/lobbying organization working at the state and federal level to ease restrictions on the ownership, manufacture, sale, and use of items regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA).
For more information, visit: www.nfafa.org.