Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee advanced a gun ban Wednesday with the Preventing Suicide Through Voluntary Firearm Purchase Delay Act (H.R. 8361), which would establish a federally controlled list of people who voluntarily agree to be blocked from buying guns.
“The bill is aimed at preventing gun suicides, which supporters of the legislation say is claiming the lives of more than 25,000 Americans each year. The proposal from Reps. Pramila Jayapal, (D-Wash.), and John Curtis, (R-Utah), would let anyone who fears they might take their own life with a gun to enroll themselves on a list of people who would then be blocked from buying a firearm,” reported Fox News.
Republicans opposed the legislation, saying this bill is just another attempt by Democrats to move the country toward a ban on firearms. The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill in a party-line roll call vote of 20 Ayes and 16 Nos.
Aware that the bill is an open attack on Americans’ right to bear arms, Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked, “Do we really need a federal statue to permit a person to volunteer to give up their fundamental liberty? That’s what this bill does.”
“Mental health is important, we all understand that, especially as it relates to suicide, but this … I mean, really? This is what we’re going to do?” Jordan asked. “I think this again is just another attack from the Democrats on the Second Amendment,” he said.
The current legislation requires the attorney general to establish a list of people who agree to be blocked from buying a gun, which would be known as the “voluntary purchase delay database.” Basically, it would prevent listed people from passing a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background check for a gun purchase.
The bill also requires the attorney general to establish a process that would allow people to have their names removed from the database, and requests must be fulfilled within 21 days and must be accompanied by a declaration from a mental-health professional who says the requester poses no risk of self-harm.
The legislation’s sponsor, Reprentative Jayapal, said, “My bill would create a new tool that gives people experiencing the challenging swings of mental health illness to have the power to proactively and voluntarily protect themselves by putting themselves on a do-not-sell list for a firearm.”
Other than this bill being unconstitutional, the real concern here is that once a person’s name is on the list, how can get get it removed? Representative Jordan reportedly said, “We know that’s going to be tough. You can be assured that getting your name removed from the database will be as difficult as possible and will be a deterrent for anyone to put their name on the list to begin with.”
Fox News shared that “Rep. Tom Massie, (R-Ky)., added that he is also worried that the bill might turn people into criminals if they give a firearm as a gift to someone who is on the list. During committee debate, Democrats said that is not the intent of the law and indicated an openness to fixing it later, but Republicans said the uncertainty on this issue is another reason not to support the bill.”
One role of government is to ensure citizens have a safe environment in which they can live and prosper, but this bill goes too far. The bill’s brief description is nothing more than liberal political doublespeak and nonsense stating that this legislation will “help prevent suicide by giving people more control over their own lethal means purchase decisions, through the creation of a voluntary purchase delay database.”
No one can predict if this bill will see the light of day on the House floor, but the good news here is that it will need a full House vote to proceed, and that looks unlikely with Republican control in 2023.
