Sunday, February 03, 2008

Encoded Ammunition: Tennessee

NRA-ILA :: Legislation

FINALLY we see the NRA reacting to the plethora of "Encoded Ammunition" bills being presented to state legislatures across the land.

But do they recognize that this is NOT just an isolated incident?

No, the NRA does not.

Instead, they present their usual Alerts with just a single notification in the case of Tennessee, without mentioning that similar bills have been presented in Maryland, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Maryland and Hawaii.

That's SEVEN out of FIFTY states which have presented bills with essentially the same text.

(The Tennessee text is available here for your comparison.)

The National Rifle Association, which has for the past 20 years presented itself as the nation's premier resource for defending your 2nd amendment rights, has completely missed the larger issue: that the same bill (which would perform an 'end run' around the 2nd amendment) has been proposed in SIX states (Maryland, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Hawaii, and now Tennessee) within a 30-day period.

Rather than being recognized as a trend; rather that noting that this represents a concerted and highly organized attack on the 2nd Amendment; the NRA has decided to report this as an isolated incident.

Is it possible that the NRA is unaware that similar bills have been presented in (at least) five other states?

(Note: Other states may be, and probably are, subject to the same or similar bills. I'm just one man, it's impossible for me to track the bills introduced to ALL state legislatures. Is the NRA capable of identifying only ONE attack on the 2nd Amendment, while I, a lone and independent blogger have so far identified SIX similar assaults? We who are members of the NRA ... however reluctantly ... are capable of independent internet searches. Hey, NRA! For Minimum Wages, I will be happy to find and identify states which have presented similar bills, which you with your multi-million dollar annual budget seem unable to find or address.)

WTF is WRONG with the NRA, your First Line of Defense?

My guess: if it doesn't directly support an established Fund-Raising Activity, they really don't give a shit.
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Back to the issue at hand: the Tennessee bill on "Encoded Ammunition:"

Referring to the links supplied by the NRA:

Tennessee Bill SB3395:
  • Is essentially the same (see the text) as the Mississippi bill referenced in a previous post, with minor differences in detail:
  • The bill is known as the "Ammunition Accountability Act";
  • There is a minimal attempt to justify the bill in terms of ".. quickly [identifying] persons of interest in gun crime investigations" ... which is a refreshing change from the majority of bills of this type, which typically don't even make this cursory effort to justify the unreasonable and unsupportable reason for presenting such legislation;
  • The deadline for Encoded Ammunition being presented for sale is ONE YEAR (January 1, 2009);
  • The deadline for "non-coded" (as opposed to "noncoded" [sic] as proposed in the Mississippi bill) is January 1, 2010;
  • The data to be recorded is similar to the Mississippi bill ... almost word-for-word;
  • Rather than penalties for non-compliance for "manufacturers" to be $1000 for the first offense, $5000 for the second offense, and %10,000 for the third offense, the penalties for non-compliance for "manufacturers" will be $1000 for the first offense and $5000 for the second and subsequent offenses.
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(Here's the House Bill ...unique to this state: Tennessee, in that it is presented to both the Senate and the House. A cursory comparison reveals NO differences between the Senate and the House versions of the Bill. (Curious, no? Unless both houses received the same bill from the same external source.)

What is the NRA doing about this?

Nothing.


According to their last emailed member notification, this is the extent of their concerns:

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ILLINOIS: Gun Rights Under Assault in Cook County! As we reported previously, Cook County is currently considering two anti-gun proposals that must be defeated! First, the Safe Streets/Weapons Registration Ordinance requires the registration of all firearms and firearm owners in the county. As written, it is an outright gun ban and prohibits the transport of a firearm in your vehicle unless the firearm is "broken down in a nonfunctioning state." The other proposed ordinance would amend the county's "Deadly Weapon Dealers Ordinance" to completely ban all gun shows within the county, and prohibits federally licensed dealers from operating within 10 miles of one another. Please contact the Cook County Board of Commissioners today and respectfully urge them to oppose these ordinances. Contact information for the Board can be found by clicking here.

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MARYLAND: De Facto Gun Registration Scheme Proposed! On Tuesday, February 26, the House Judiciary Committee and the House Ways & Means Committee have scheduled a hearing to consider House Bill 517. HB517 would require ammunition manufacturers to encode a serial number on all ammunition for regulated firearms (handguns and "assault weapons") sold in the state. Shotgun ammunition is exempted. The bill would also create an intrusive database of ammunition purchasers, including the name, date of birth, driver's license number, serial number of ammunition purchased, and "any other information the Secretary (of State Police) considers necessary" would be compiled. Please contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Ways & Means Committee and respectfully urge them to oppose this onerous attack on our privacy and Second Amendment rights. Contact information can be found by clicking here.

MISSISSIPPI: Two Bills Introduced to Protect Ranges! Earlier this week, two bills were proposed in the Mississippi Legislature that would expand the scope of protection for shooting ranges and gun club facilities within the state. Senate Bill 2466 and House Bill 346 would prohibit local governments from placing restrictions on existing shooting ranges by prohibiting any new laws or ordinances from being enacted. Please contact your State Legislators and respectfully urge them to support both SB 2466 and HB 346 once they are assigned hearing dates within their referred committees. Contact information can be found here.

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TENNESSEE: Ammo Serialization Bill Filed in House and Senate! On Thursday, January 17, legislation was filed in both the Tennessee House and Senate that would requires all handgun ammunition manufactured or sold in Tennessee to be coded with a serial number, and entered into a statewide database at the time of sale. Encoded ammunition would be registered to the purchaser and would include the date of transaction, the purchaser's name, date of birth, driver's license number, and the serial number of the ammunition. SB3395, sponsored by State Senator Reginald Tate (District 33) and HB3245, sponsored by State Representative Larry Miller (District 88) pose a serious threat to our Right to Keep and Bear Arms and need to be stopped immediately. Please contact your State Legislators and respectfully urge them to protect the Second Amendment rights of Tennessee's law-abiding gun owners by opposing SB3395 and HB3245. Please visit http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/senate/members/smembers.htm#Find for contact information for your State Senator, and http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/house/members/hmembers.htm#Find for contact information for your State Representative.

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That's right. Similar bills have been introduced in (to my personal knowledge) Maryland, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee within the past 30 days, and the text of the bills have been essentially identical. Yet although the NRA has specifically addressed "New Legislation in half of these states in their recent Alerts, only in Tennessee have they noticed that the "Encoded Ammunition" bills have been introduced in January, 2008. They seem not to have noticed that this is a recurring theme, nor have the noticed that it is evidence (six states out of 50, in one month, with boiler-plate text modified only by 'local' concerns) text.

Again, I do NOT have the resources to track legislation in all 50 states, but I have incidentally identified bills in six of 50 states, without even trying.

What has the NRA done for you here?

Please discontinue your NRA membership, and sign on to my personal "I Will Tell You What Crap The Anti-gunners Are Visiting Upon You" website. Send me whatever the NRA has charged you for annual membership.

I will do a better job of identifying 2nd Amendment threats than the NRA. I will tell you first, I will give you the details, and I will not confuse you with secondary issues such as "Let's Force Your Boss to Let You Carry A Gun In Your Car In The Company Parking Lot" issues.

Oh, by the way: I won't mount a national campaign to proselytize issues which you don't care about. But I WILL do a much better job of keeping you informed about bullshit national campaigns by the anti-gun forces to undermine your 2nd Amendment rights.

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