When To Worry

There are literally hundreds of bills that get introduced in Congress, or thousands if you count the legislatures of the several states, each legislative session.  Most of them aren’t going anywhere.  Every Congress since the Assault Weapons Ban expired have had a bill to renew, and an even worse bill.  They are typically introduced by the usual suspects, and will languish in committee, never to see the light of day.  The mere introduction of a bill means nothing.

When to start worrying is if you see a sudden surge in legislators co-sponsoring a bill.  When you start approaching a majority, or large majority of the house co-sponsoring a bill, that increasing the likelihood that the bill will get a hearing in committee.  The time to start worrying about a new assault weapons ban is if one of the introduced bills gets a committee hearing.  If there was going to be a time I’d suggest buying, that would be the time.

Even if a bill gets a hearing, it doesn’t mean it will be passed out of the committee on to the floor.  The committee chairs decide what gets a hearing, and what does not.  The Chairman of the Committee that handles things like assault weapons bans is John Conyers, and probably will be in the 111th Congress as well.  The composition of the committee makes it challenging for us, but we have yet to see a bill get a hearing in this Congress.

We do keep track of this stuff, and if it looks like things are going against us, you’ll hear it on the blogosphere first.

9 thoughts on “When To Worry”

  1. I dunno. I would venture a bet that this huge upswing in sales makes a pretty loud noise that is heard in those chambers, regardless of the makeup. One can hope that those bills die in their grave because no congresscritter is sane enough to not realize people won’t put up with that.

    Then again, millions of letters and emails against the bailout didn’t stop that from happening, so my hope might be misplaced.

  2. My prediction is that these will stay in committee until the next school shooting. We all know it’s only a matter of time before it happens again in some gun-free zone.

    Then they’ll ride the wave of emotion and brow beat anyone voicing opposition as an uncaring cad in the pocket of the gun lobby. Front and center will be the chosen one, the great orater, our dear leader.

    Timing is everything.

  3. “There are literally hundreds of bills that get introduced in Congress, or thousands if you count the legislatures of the several states, each legislative session. ”

    And, I have to wonder, why is that?

    “There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws…you create a nation of law-breakers and then you cash in on guilt.” -Ayn Rand

    “The U.S. Code, which contains all federal statutes, occupies 56,009 single-spaced pages. Its 47 volumes take up nine feet of shelf space. An annotated version, which attempts to bring order out of chaos, is three feet long and has 230 hardcover volumes and 36 paperback supplements. Administrative lawmaking under statutes fill up the 207-volume Code of Federal Regulations, which spans 21 feet of shelf space and contains more than 134,488 pages of regulatory law. … Federal law is further augmented by more than 2,756 volumes of judicial precedent, taking up 160 yards of law library shelving.”

    As for the issue directly at hand, new anti-rights laws such as a gun ban. How hard is it to reintroduce a failed law from last session, get it passed, and onto his desk? They have their agenda, America be damned, and they WILL push it down our throats.

  4. And, I have to wonder, why is that?

    Everyone has their own pet bill they are trying to get passed. In the case of assault weapons, HR1022 is Carrie McCarthy’s pet project. Most of them aren’t going anywhere because other politicians either realize they are philosophically wrongheaded, or make for bad politics. We’re going to be depending a lot on the latter for the next two years. But the point about there being too many laws and regulations is certainly, and sadly, true.

    As for how hard it is to get it to the Presidents desk? It tends to take a long time, even for bills that aren’t controversial. If something is viewed as urgent, it can go faster. The PATRIOT Act didn’t get introduced until October 24, 2001, but was signed but was law by October 26th. But it’s worth noting that the bill had many prior incarnations, and had been in the works since 9/11. Even for something without controversy, it just takes time, typically weeks, to get bills onto the schedule and get votes on them. You might not get months, but you’ll get time.

  5. No, now is not the time to be worrying. Now is the time to be buying, if you are so interested.

    Sure, we will have a warning if/when this bill starts moving out of its starting box… but if you think the rush on EBRs/ammunition/handguns/etc. is bad now, you just wait until then.

    As for that aforementioned uptick of firearm purchases, I could easily see some hoplophobic congresscritter actually using that as leverage to try and pass another AWB or something similar – “Look at all of these evil, cop-killing, child-molesting firearms going out into the streets… we must do something to stem this flow of lead-laced blood!” Or something like that.

  6. I agree that then would be a bad time too. I’m hoping ot make my purchases during the period when Obama is busy doing his damnedest to both screw up the economy, and dealing with whatever foreign policy crisis is currently being planned for him by our adversaries.

  7. Well, not to be facetious, but good luck with that. I am getting my happy little butt in line today, so I might get the materiel I am interested in wihtin the next few months…

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