Gun laws tied into stimulus bill?

Nathan Davis
UNL Mechanical Engineer Major

While attention has been focused on the recently passed stimulus bill H.R. 1, another bill, S. 22, has already passed the senate and is waiting for a vote from the house. The so-called “Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009” is a composition of over 150 pieces of legislation which never passed congress on their own merit. In January Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid packaged all of the bills into 1248 whole pages, twice the length of the stimulus bill, and forced it through the Senate with a vote of 73-21. 21 out of 41 Republican Senators voted against the bill, including Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), and 19 voted for the bill. 52 out of 54 Democrat Senators voted for the bill, including Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), and none voted against the bill. A vote from the house is expected sometime this week before being signed by president Barack Obama.

While the bill looks like simply a land conservation effort, it has unneeded consequences for gun-owners. S. 22 would greatly expand the amount of land controlled by the National Park Service (NPS). NPS land is currently under a strict gun ban applying to persons who carry a concealed firearm with a permit. Non-permit holders and open carry are not explicitly addressed.

If passed, the bill would authorize the federal government to purchase land next to national parks and trails. It would also federalize the Washington-Rochambeau Trail, an approximately 600 mile trail from Rhode Island to Virginia. Both the adjacent land and the trail, which passes through sections of major highways and through cities like Boston and Philadelphia, would fall under the NPS and the gun ban. In other words, someone innocently driving down the highway next to the trail would be subject to the NPS gun ban.

Also, the bill would allow for the National Landscape Conservation System to place millions of acres of new land under one new umbrella agency. Much of this land is currently under the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, which allow for hunting and recreational shooting, but it is unclear what regulations this new umbrella agency would set forth.

The Democrat leadership has ensured that the measure cannot be amended or altered in any way. That means that if it passes the House, it goes right to President Obama’s desk, where it will be signed into law.

This bill comes on the verge of another more overt anti-gun bill, H.R. 45, which explicitly increases regulation of gun licensing. This bill won't be finalized for a while since it has only recently been introduced and referred to the committee.

With the new administration dominated by an anti-gun Democrat majority, gun-owners have been “up in arms.” According to a press release from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), data from FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that background checks for the sale of firearms had increased 42% in November, 24% in December, and 28.8% in January compared to respective months the previous year. NSSF president Steve Sanetti said in response to the surge in gun sales, “Americans are clearly concerned about their ability to be able to purchase these products in an uncertain future." And rightly so.