The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday signed off on a sweeping, first-of-its-kind treaty to regulate the international arms trade, brushing aside worries from U.S. gun rights advocates that the pact could lead to a national firearms registry and disrupt the American gun market.
The long-debated U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) requires countries to regulate and control the export of weaponry such as battle tanks, combat vehicles and aircraft and attack helicopters, as well as parts and ammunition for such weapons. It also provides that signatories will not violate arms embargoes, international treaties regarding illicit trafficking, or sell weaponry to countries for genocide, crimes against humanity or other war crimes.
A contingent of liberal Democrats in Congress is proposing a new federal gun control idea: mandatory liability insurance for gun owners.
When New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney introduced the legislation last month with eight other Democrats, she boasted that it is “the first bill to require liability insurance of gun buyers nationwide.”
Maloney’s “Firearm Risk Protection Act” requires gun buyers to have “a qualified liability insurance policy” before they are able to legally purchase a firearm.
Gun control advocates in Sacramento are putting a new twist on an old NRA slogan: "Guns don't kill people -- bullets kill people."
Democratic lawmakers are pushing like never before to regulate or tax ammunition sales. They say the logic is simple: A firearm is nothing but an expensive paperweight without ammunition.
"We regulated gun sales because of our concern about safety, (so) by logical extension we should do so with bullets," said state Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, whose AB48 will be heard Tuesday by the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
Lawmakers in the state of Connecticut will vote on a sweeping set of gun restrictions, including a ban on new high-capacity magazines.
The proposal requires background checks on all gun sales and expands the state's assault weapons ban.
It comes as new federal gun measures appear to have stalled in Congress.
Debate over US gun laws was reignited after a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, at a Connecticut primary school in December.
Tighter gun restrictions also passed in New York and Colorado in the wake of the shooting.
Connecticut state lawmakers came to an agreement Monday on what they said will become some of the nation’s toughest gun control laws.
As CBS 2′s Lou Young reported, the deal included a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, such as the one that was used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre in Newtown. The deal also calls for a new registry for existing high-capacity magazines, and background checks that would apply to private gun sales.
With an announcement of sweeping proposals to curb gun violence, Connecticut lawmakers said they are hoping to send a message to Congress and other state legislators across the country: A bipartisan agreement on gun control is possible.
Legislative leaders on Monday revealed proposals spurred by the Dec. 14 Newtown school shooting following weeks of bipartisan, closed-door negotiations. A vote is expected Wednesday in the General Assembly, where Democrats control both chambers, making passage all but assured.
Connecticut lawmakers announced a deal Monday on what they called some of the toughest gun laws in the country that were proposed after the December mass shooting at a school in Newtown. Some highlights from the proposal:
GUN LAWS
—Ban sales of high-capacity ammunition magazines;
—Background checks for private gun sales;
—New registry for existing magazines that carry 10 or more bullets;
—Statewide dangerous weapon offender registry, which lawmakers said is the nation’s first;
—Immediate universal background checks for all firearms sales;
—Expansion of Connecticut’s assault weapons ban;
—Safety training and other requirements to buy any rifle, shotgun or ammunition;
—Increases minimum age eligibility for purchase of some semi-automatic rifles to 21;
— Expands requirements for safe storage of firearms;
— Increases penalties for firearms trafficking and illegal possession offenses.
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Does any of these BBFN know what the words, not to infringe mean?
ReplyDeleteHeltau