by Bob Barr | Feb 27, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.comThe year before what likely will be the most contentious presidential election in modern history is not a good time to suffer an identity crisis; but that is precisely the position in which the Democrats finds themselves right now.While the Party may try to put on a happy, unified public face in opposing President Donald Trump, the full throes of such an identity crisis are wreaking havoc behind the scenes. To describe it as a conflict of “multiple personalities” would not even explain the half of it. Democrats are in a complete existential meltdown.Let’s start with a quick overview of where the Democratic Party is today. The two Establishment front runners for the 2020 Presidential Sweepstakes nomination are Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. The first is a former prosecutor criticized by Liberals for having been tough on minorities by locking up gang bangers; the other is a woman who employed what the Left has labelled “cultural appropriation” to portray herself as a minority in order advance her career.Then there’s the “people’s favorite” (as measured by small donor-fundraising) – Sen. Bernie Sanders, a septuagenarian socialist whose popularity soared by rebuking the Democratic establishment, represented by Sens. Harris and Warren.Things are no easier for Democrats in the House, where an aging Rep. Nancy Pelosi struggles to maintain control over a crop of freshman Members who have made clear their desire to not play by the rules. Tensions bubbled to the surface earlier this month when Pelosi threw a bucket of cold water on Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s “hot” Green New Deal. “The green dream, or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it...
by Bob Barr | Feb 25, 2019 | Uncategorized |
The Daily Caller3:00 PM 02/25/2019 | OPINIONBob Barr | Former Congressman (R-GA) Have you ever been trapped in one of those endless automated answering service loops? A new background check system for firearms purchases proposed by a group of gun control advocates in the House of Representatives would make going through a background check far more frustrating.However, instead of preventing you from reaching a real person to assist you in solving a problem with an insurance or a credit card company, the “Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019” may stop you from exercising a right guaranteed you by the Bill of Rights.This legislation (designated “H.R. 1112”) is sponsored by South Carolina Democrat James Clyburn and a number of other Democrats (including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), along with a lone Republican gun-control advocate, and is fast-tracked for a vote by the full House as early as this week. It is being paired with another bill, “H.R. 8,” that would achieve the perpetual Holy Grail of gun control proponents — mandated “universal background checks” for virtually all gun transfers.It is the insidiously clever H.R. 1112 that is the real wolf in sheep’s clothing; having the potential to fool perhaps a number of Republicans into voting in favor because of its seeming benign language. Aside from its soothing title, H.R. 1112 appears on its surface to simply add seven days to the current, three-day period (often referred to as a “safety valve”) after which a licensed firearm dealer may sell or “transfer” a firearm to an individual so long as no “red flag” is noted by the FBI-administered National Instant Criminal...
by Bob Barr | Feb 20, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Democrats Again Chase the Holy Grail of “Universal” Background ChecksTownhall.comWhile establishment Washington remains focused on the growing scoreboard of Democratic presidential wannabes, and the media frets about whether actor Jussie Smollett is a victim of a hate crime or of double-reverse racism, the gun control crowd on the Hill is once again striking out in search of the Holy Grail of gun control – closing the “gun show loophole” and mandating “universal background checks.”Earlier this month, Democrats in control of the House Judiciary Committee approved H.R. 8, the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019.” With only a very few exceptions, such as the gifting of firearms between immediate family members, H.R. 8 would mandate all firearm sales and transfers be subject to federal background checks – the “universal background check” long sought by gun control zealots. Of course, as with all zealots, reality plays little role in their crusade. The notion of mass murder and gun violence fueled by shady transactions in gun show parking lots would be hilarious if not for how deeply embedded this delusion is in the psyche of gun control advocates. The so-called “gun show loophole” has given rise to a generation of mostly Democrat lawmakers (joined by a few Republican outliers like Rep. Peter King of New York) who apparently believe that mandating government-run background checks for every gun transfer not now subject to such requirement, will quickly dry up the pool of firearms available to mass murderers. The ease with which this notion has been debunked repeatedly, however, is lost on these fear merchants.For starters, there is no such thing as a “gun show loophole.”...
