For My Next Trick…

There has been a great deal of attention paid lately to Sheila Jackson Lee's HR 127, the Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act…and that's exactly the point. This is the classic sleight-of-hand of every illusionist. Just like Penn & Teller, the aim is to make sure you're focusing on the hand that seems to be the busiest…while the other hand is perpetrating the real trick.

Pick a card? They’re all trick cards, unfortunately.

In this case, they actually want you to pay very close attention to Lee’s bill. And to be fair, it is a gun controller’s wet dream, packed full of every draconian infringement you can imagine. It calls for full firearm registration and licensing of gun owners, including a 24-hour training requirement, a mandatory psychological evaluation, and compulsory insurance coverage (issued by the US Attorney General for an $800 fee). For those of us who value the freedom guaranteed by the Second Amendment, it is hard to ignore a monstrosity like this. And while it would certainly be unwise to ignore it completely, there are indicators that the Democrats actually have no intention of passing it into law…at least not as is.

The most obvious tell is that (although many on the side of the Democrats claim to want the things contained in the bill) it was introduced six weeks ago and has yet to collect a single co-sponsor. None. Not one single legislator other than Lee herself has signed on as supporting this bill. Now…this could be a bit of sleight-of-hand itself. Perhaps the game is to make it appear as if the bill has no legs until the last possible moment, and then spring it from committee straight to the House floor with little warning.

However, the more likely outcome is that this is a “shoot-the-moon” maneuver…proposing a gun control agenda so outlandish that anything less can be pitched as a more reasonable “compromise.” There is also the element of fear it instills in the gun rights community, who when confronted with such a dire threat may be convinced to latch on to a gun control proposal which is less frightening in comparison.

You see, first they get us all worked up over a nightmare bill such as H.R. 127, and we focus on that and push back hard. “OK, OK,” they then respond. “We’ll back off of H.R. 127 if you will support universal background checks and red flag laws. We can be reasonable. We’re happy to compromise on this.” So we go along with the bad to avoid something worse, and next thing you know we’ve got a new gun control law. And that doesn’t even take into account the likelihood that they allow this “compromise” bill get up a good head of steam, and then they slip in an amendment (like President Biden’s PLCAA repeal) at the last minute.

See how that works? They make us feel like we dodged a bullet, and they get what they wanted all along. Just remember that it’s all an illusion.

Dodged that one…too bad it’s an illusion. And there’s more coming.