Washington, D. C. — Late last week the House of Representatives passed a pair of gun control bills that drew little attention due to the final passage of the pandemic relief package President Biden signed into law on Thursday.
The first of the two bills would extend the period the federal government has to process NICS background checks. Currently, those checks can take up to three days, but the new measure would extend that period to a maximum of ten days before a buyer could take possession of their firearm. 4th District Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra says that would not have prevented any of the shootings in recent years.
(As above) “I was just so disappointed that this was coming down the pipe. And it’s framed based on things that have happened in the past, and it had nothing to do with it. There are several things, obviously, that happened…shootings in the last several years…but this does not change those outcomes. It never will.”
Feenstra says the bill is what he terms a shameful way to slow down a constitutional right.
(As above) “It’s just shameful. It’s just another way to slow down 2nd amendment rights. You know, second amendment rights…we have the right to bear arms, we have the right to have a gun.”
The second gun control measure passed by the house this past week was a measure expanding background checks for gun purchases. A measure that was billed as closing the “gun show loophole.” Feenstra says there is no gun show loophole.
(As above) “It’s not like you can just go to a gun show and buy a gun with no background check. You still have to have the background check.”
He calls the two measures part of an ongoing process of taking away freedoms and liberties.
(As above) “It’s just incremental ways to eat away at the 2nd amendment. I get really disappointed, obviously. I was a strong NO vote on both these issues. But we’re seeing this continual process of taking away freedoms and liberties in our country, and I firmly believe that that is not what we, as citizens, want.”
Congressman Feenstra says that, currently, business on Capitol Hill is being conducted under what he calls a cloak of darkness.
(As above) “We have three massive fences around the capitol, and the only people that can get in are myself and my staff and no one else, no lobbyists and no peaceful protestors. So all this is happening under a cloak of darkness, because no one can get in, no one can see what’s going on. And that’s not what we the people, or our government should ever be about. And it’s a sad day for our Constitution and for our country.”
He says that while the two gun control bills passed the House, he thinks they probably have an uphill battle to get the 60 votes needed to win approval in the Senate.
