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KellyR-IL02D

One of the many ways gun control activists try to limit law-abiding gun owners’ ability to legally purchase firearms: gun store demonization. Just as Democrats have convinced many of their followers that Republicans are greedy white racists who should be shunned, the antis want the public to view gun dealers as merchants of death. To that end, the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex wants to create federal legislation to mandate the Gun Dealer Code of Conduct concocted by The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Only now they’re calling it . . .

the Good Neighbor Gun Dealer Act. The Act requires the government to recognize gun dealers who meet some gun control activist-defined criteria by awarding official, federal “Good Neighbor” certification. What could possibly go wrong? Let’s back-up for a second . . .

Uncle Sam created the Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) system to regulate gun sales. Businesses with a Federal Firearms License are subject to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive’s (ATF) rules and guidelines. The ATF is empowered to enforce these regs either by imposing fines or revoking licenses. The ATF’s regulations are subject to public review. The enforcement process is relatively fair and open process.

A group of Democrats (like Robin Kelley D-IL, pictured above) don’t like the idea of fair and open regulation. What they really like to see: a series of increasingly restrictive regulations designed to make buying and owning guns as difficult and onerous as possible. So, rather than re-working the existing system, they’ve designed this “Good Neighbor” scheme to allow them to dictate these restrictions and certify gun dealers – without any oversight – and shame those who don’t comply.

The Attorney General (in their scheme) would have unlimited power to dictate the terms of that certification without any industry input or other checks and balances. I repeat, under this proposed law, the Attorney General could decide which gun stores meet the “Good Neighbor” test and which don’t – and no one could stop her.

This proposed regulatory autocracy is OK because it’s “voluntary.” Gun dealers don’t have to participate if they don’t want to. But you can see where it’s going. Groups like Moms Demand Action would have a field day picketing and protesting in front of “bad apple” gun stores – just as the hapless Brady Campaign has done.

The Act also empowers the AG to publish “firearms trace data” – information on the origin of a gun identified as a “crime gun.” That provision would apply to all gun dealers, regardless whether or not they’re participating in the Good Neighbor program, regardless of any other variables. ‘Cause good neighbors don’t wear scarlet letters, right?

There’s no actual benefit to the public for a gun store in having a voluntary “Good Neighbor” certification. Any improvement to the existing FFL system can be implemented through existing mechanisms. The only reason why the Good Neighbor Gun Dealer program would exist: to create a back door method to impose increasingly oppressive regulations by regulatory fiat on law-abiding businesses without the ability to contest the changes.

Luckily, there’s almost no chance of this happening. We’re heading into an election year. No one on the anti-2A side really wants to piss-off gun owners enough to get even more of them to the polls. But make no mistake, this is the shape of things to come – if the gun control activists get their way.

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51 COMMENTS

  1. This would work about as well as those explicit lyrics warnings worked to keep kids from buying music with explicit lyrics.

    • After that Tipper Gore decal-fest on records, Mom took away my KISS records and made me listen to Peter Paul and Mary along with Neil Diamond for about a year.

      • You should have hid them in your mom’s Carpenters album covers like in Detroit Rock City.

        I was going to post the scene but the video was accompanied by this notice: This video previously contained a copyrighted audio track. Due to a claim by a copyright holder, the audio track has been muted. Screw KISS.

      • NO!!!! Never was a KISS fan, but I can still empathize.

        With me, it all started with Gene Vincent. Per its era, he was every bit as menacing as KISS in yours.

      • ESRB ratings are there primarily to guide parents wrt what might and might not be appropriate for their kids. For that purpose, they do actually work reasonably well. But note that it is an entirely private program, which has some actual certification standards that anyone can look up.

        If this lady wants to set up the equivalent for FFLs, she’s welcome to do so – on her own dime and with her own certification, without involving AG. But I don’t see the purpose of such a thing. As a customer, I certainly wouldn’t care either way.

  2. All the gun stores I have ever been in, big box or local guy, have all been good neighbors to me. The smaller ones have been the best neighbors.

  3. It’s funny how they phrase a lot of that stuff and how it’s covered by the umbrella of law currently. Of course there are certain shops that will sell a disproportionate amount of “crime guns.” They probably sell a disproportionate amount of firearms compared to a lot of more remote dealers. It’s simply like playing the law of averages where you’re going to find a larger concentration of virtually anything near a populated area.

  4. Demonization by government for any reason is repulsive.

    Let’s suppose – for argument’s sake – that a government (Federal, State or municipal) decided to demonize licensed alcohol dealers or tobacco dealers. And, let’s suppose there were a majority view – even a consensus – that alcohol or tobacco were a scourge on society.

    Where would this lead? What would be the bottom of the slippery slope?

    Might that government then undertake the demonization of – oh, let’s say – some religion? What if it were Islam or Christianity?

    Or, would the bottom of the slope be to demonize those who exercise their rights to keep and bear arms? Or, those who exercise their right to refuse to testify?

    The entire proposition of government demonizing ANYTHING or ANYONE is repulsive. If individuals – acting purely in their private capacity – wish to demonize dealers or users of alcohol, tobacco or firearms or demonize people who engage in controversial practices, that’s fine. However, governments are established among men for reasons that must never include demonization of any citizen who has not been convicted of a crime.

    • Where have you been for the last 8 years? Demonization is the only thing the OBonzo Administration has done, is doing, and will continue to do.

      • Don’t want more gun control? Evil.
        Don’t want more background checks? Evil.
        Don’t buy into #blacklivesmatter? Evil.
        White man shoots black man and you care about the facts of the situation more than the race of the victim?! Evil!!! Racist!!!
        Don’t hate the NRA? You’re evil!! Racist! Fat! And you have a small penis!!

  5. Usually gun control activists ( such as the person in the photo (are greedy white racists who should be shunned, turnabout is fair play )) in the big cities protest and howl about any new shooting range or gun store. If it is anywhere within a mile of a school, then the argument is that the students will be killed or wounded by stray gun fire. Think of the children….

    • “This makes me want to get an FFL.”

      Haven’t they eliminated most ‘kitchen table’ FFLs?

      Do they require a ‘brick and mortar’ storefront and the local, state, *and* federal bureaucratic grief that comes with it?

      I find most egregious their proposal is to demand dealers wait however long it takes to get an NCIS check before transferring the firearm.

      Under Progressive administrations I can imagine all kinds of ‘computer problems’ and paperwork delays to grind the sale procedure to a halt or near-halt.

      Giving up the provision to sell anyway even though the government is too incompetent to do a simple computer check we must *never* surrender.

      • An FFL doesn’t necessarily have to have a physical storefront, in the sense of a retail shop in a shopping center or similar. However, an FFL applicant must have a fixed physical premise from which they conduct their business. That location may be the FFL’s personal residence. However, again, the fixed physical premise from which the FFL conducts business must be one that is not prohibited by State or local law from conducting commercial business. That’s how they can get you.

        Even if the city or county doesn’t have strict zoning regulations, your apartment complex owner or HOA almost certainly will have such rules. There can be wiggle room, such as selling online only, not posting signage, not making your premises available for foot traffic, and not conducting such volume of business as deliveries/shipments become disruptive of the community. All of that varies, but is more or less typical.

        You’re also correct that small time “kitchen table” FFLs, all FFLs, really, has plummeted from its peak of 248,155 in 1992. Then came Brady in 1993 and the “Assault Weapons” Ban in 1994. Shortly thereafter, the number of active FFLs plunged to roughly 50,000 +/-. In fairness, the changing economics of the industry, particularly the advent of the Internet, would have had an adverse effect on small FFLs, anyway, as fewer FFLs would be able to serve markets and customers far beyond their own geographies and personal circle of associates.

        • A tactic to undermine UBC might be to move an amendment to facilitate kitchen-table FFLs.

          Bear in mind that I’m not advocating compromise here; rather, a reactive poison pill.

          Our allies in Congress, advocating the KT-FFL, would argue that the ATF’s campaign to eliminate KT-FFLs is at cross-purposes of UBC. If loans of guns or impromptu non-dealer sales are to be regulated then its important to saturate the nation with KT-FFLs who would be readily available to consumers who needed to perform the paperwork and promote competition to keep transfer-fees low. Gun users should be able to find a neighbor in their immediate vicinity who would officiate an impromptu transfer likely to occur on a weekend or holiday and at odd hours – e.g., in the evening before a hunting trip.

          We need to harken back to the good-o’l-days when KT-FFLs were routinely handed out with a $5 (or whatever it was) license fee. Look at how low the crime rates were then. Clearly, KT-FFLs didn’t operate to promote any crime wave.

          The Antis will think of all sorts of objections to KT-FFLs. Never mind these objections. Talking about the KT-FFL as a reasonable accommodation to all the problems created by UBC will serve as a platform to introduce into the discussion all the problems created by UBC. E.g., look at the problem of gun loans. Does it really make sense to impose UBCs on loans? If the Antis do this, don’t gun users deserve a reasonable accommodation such as KT-FFLs? When the loan is un-wound after only a weekend – or week – does it really pay to create and file a 4473 form for 20 years? Why not eliminate the 4473 form on loans? After all, the KT-FFL’s record of regular customers, Mr. John Jones and Mr. Sam Smith in his bound book ought to be sufficient.

          Consume Congressional Committee time debating the merits of reasonable accommodations to make UBC less onerous and the case for UBC will unravel. The Antis will have a hard time maintaining the momentum.

          Moreover, Congress-critters will be fed a long list of reasons that they can market to their constituents as to why they ultimately – and somewhat reluctantly – voted against UBC. The proponents of UBC refused to accommodate reasonable accommodations to the gun users who would have born the burden of compliance.

  6. THIS goofy gal is my representative in congress-replacing the felon Jesse Jackson Jr. The 2nd district is gerrymandered so that dumbocrats will always win(dominated by Cook Co.). Lots of gun shops and FFL’s too. I can’t vouch for everyone but I bet most are good neighbors…

  7. I could see an upside for this. If there’s an FFL that is willing to bend over backwards to appease and collaborate with the civilian disarmament lobby, I’d actually like to know about it so I can avoid doing any business with them. I’d view meeting a Brady “good neighbor” standard as a mark of shame, and I imagine FFLs who publicly go out of their way to appease the enemy would find themselves losing business to “bad apples” who refuse to in short order.

    Alienating your customer base in a futile attempt to appease people who won’t be satisfied until your entire industry is annihilated is not exactly a brilliant business and marketing move. Just ask S&W…

  8. “the Attorney General could decide which gun stores meet the “Good Neighbor” test and which don’t – and no one could stop her.”

    The use of the personal pronoun “her” in that sentence should be explained. The current Illinois Attorney General is one Lisa Madigan (D-Chicago), daughter of long-serving Speaker of the House Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), who has held a death-grip on Illinois Government for two decades.

    While Nick is most likely correct with regard to the odds of Rep. Kelly’s (D-Chicago) proposal getting any real traction, she represents a district in which promoting civilian disarmament always gets cheers from the voters.

    • Even the dead one’s killed by gun violence! If they use a percentage of the effort to lock up the criminals as they do to deny law abiding people, the crime rate and shootings would decrease in Chicago. But due to the either ethnic group, gang, or legal status (no matter what country of origin) they do not go after them but it is easier against Law Abiding Citizens who OBEY the law no matter how silly they may be. We do not riot or burn or both when our feelings or perceived racism, sexism, genderism fill in the blank….. are hurt.
      If a criminal among us is shot we believe the cop before the perp unless it is proven officer malfeasance (for the slow and you know who you are: his/her/other fault).
      Yours in service
      James Acerra

  9. Never fear, as soon as they get all the good guys disarmed they’re going to try REAL HARD to disarm the bad guys.

    Of course they’ll never be able to do that, if they even want to. In the whole universe of options, there are only two: 1. Both good guys and bad guys have guns, or 2. Only bad guys have guns. Robin Kelley is smiling on option 2.

    • Option 3: Good guys recognize the history of what happens when they are disarmed, refuse to law down guns. I don’t want 1776 version 2.0, but I wouldn’t be that surprised by it, either.

      • Already happening as gun owners in New York and Connecticut, not exactly bastions of the 2A, flipped the bird to laws demanding registration of “assault weapons.” We are in a time now where large numbers in the gun owning community are simply ignoring gun laws. The government and the police have, so far, shown no appetite for enforcing these laws. In fact, in New York, nearly every single county passed a resolution opposing the SAFE Act and numerous sheriffs and other LEOs are on record as refusing to enforce it.

        So yes, the revolution had begun, but it is and will hopefully remain a peaceful one of willful non-compliance.

      • The Four Boxes of Liberty

        “The tools to preserve liberty are as follows: soap box, ballot box, jury box, ammo box – Use in that order.”

        The Soap Box—right of free speech
        The Ballot Box—right to a voice in your government
        The Jury Box—right to a trial, civil or criminal, by jury of your peers
        The Ammunition Box—right to threaten or use appropriate violence in defense of liberty and freedom against government tyranny

        Some say there’s also a 5th Box:

        The Moving Box—right of association, in particular territoriality via migration

  10. Honestly I’m quietly coming to the point where it’s down to ‘any means necessary’ to get rid of these politicians. WITHIN the scope of the law, of course. If they’re going to use this kind of idiotic shenanigans then we might as well use them to driving them out of their positions by hook or by crook.

  11. You have to give these graduates of the Wile E. Coyote School of Government and Public Policy credit for thinking outside the box. They display unbounded creativity in pushing their bigoted, anti-civil rights agenda.

    Shannon’s Sugar Daddy has been spreading his money around and telling democrats that advocating gun control is a winning electoral strategy. The democrat party presidential candidates are unanimous in calling for further restrictions on our rights. The republican candidates seem to be equally united in calling for protecting our second ammendment rights. The 2016 presidential election is shaping up to become the “national conversation” the antis have always said they want. It is not going to go the way they think.

  12. A gun store industry group should make their own certification – grades A through F on a sign they can put in their window. Maybe call it “FFL Responsibility Index”. Everyone gets an “A”. Everybody wins.

  13. This is a great program! If I see a “Good Neighbor” certificate hanging in a store, or a decal on the glass, it will remind me to shop somewhere else.

  14. First the Clinton administration changes the rules for FFLs. 80% of them drop their licenses.

    Now they want all gun transfers to go through an FFL.

    Anyone else see where this is going?

  15. Let us not play games here; Chicago politicians and leaders are always blaming all of their gang gun violence on the easy access to weapons provided by the people of Indiana. The government can and will use this legislation to go after gun stores in big cities, but this hammer is really reserved for gun stores and patrons far away from cities and across state lines.

  16. As an FFL holder (ACE’S DUGOUT 07FFL) I handle sales and f4473 paperwork for the shop or at gun shows (yes I do background checks at a show). I turn away sales from persons or people that appear WRONG (former LEO). If someone wants to purchase a firearm for another I tell them the person receiving the firearm does the paperwork (Birthday or Christmas whatever) and they have no problem with this because that is how I started my shop and have never changed my practices, for people that want to do a person to person deal from the paper or local arms pages I offer my shop for a safe trade spot with f4473 available for the sale/trade. I have turned away business or stopped a sale in progress if the transaction feels wrong. You can ask a business to do many things but in most cases they do them already.
    Thank you but the list and limit of the right of my clients or myself do not warrant these types of restrictions against a RIGHT.
    Yours in service
    James Acerra

  17. How about a “good neighbor” program to identify democrats. Perhaps some sort of sign they could put in the window of their business or home. Maybe a special pin or emblem they could wear to identify them. Fancy “resorts” just for “good neighbor” democrats, complete with free transportation to them.

  18. Given the FACT criminal acquisition of firearms rarely come from an FFL, and an FFL represents total control of a sale, why in the name of safety would the FFL be demonized? I’d think an anti-gun person would applaud the FFL system as it directly controls the sale of firearms. Get these progressive idiots out of the way, let them visit N. Korea.

  19. She has committed treason and breach of contract. She swore an oath to defend the Constitution. THAT is a verbal contract. By breaking that oath she is in breach of contract and can be sued in a tort action. Go for it, someone should get some money out of it and it will hurt her and maybe shut her up. No double standards put the DC politicians on Obamacare and SS.Thanks for your support and vote.Pass the word. mrpresident2016.com

  20. Those who are not on board with the program are going to ostracized and isolated. As much as some here don’t like this reality, you will be joining the growing ranks of people choosing to opt out of vaccines.

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