A recent piece in the Washington Post on the SHARE Act, legislation in Congress aimed at protecting the rights of America’s sportsmen and women, was fake news at its worst.
Washington Post Fake News:
Under the Share Act, hunters would "load their automatic weapons with armor-piercing bullets, strap on silencers, head off to the picnic grounds on nearby public lakes — and start shooting.”
The Facts:
Automatic Weapons
It is generally unlawful in every state to hunt with fully automatic firearms. Such weapons are highly restricted and very rare due to the 1986 ban on their manufacture or importation. The SHARE Act doesn’t change this.
“Armor piercing bullets”
The current interpretation of the federal law on “armor piercing ammunition” substantially limits the availability of certain non-toxic projectiles for hunting ammunition. The law, as originally passed by Congress in 1986, was never meant to apply to projectiles that were intended for use in a rifle or shotgun. The SHARE Act simply clarifies congressional intent and ensures that the law is not misinterpreted by future administrations.
Picnic grounds and public lakes
Laws restrict hunting and shooting to designated areas on public lands. You can’t just go to any casual “picnic ground” and “start shooting.”
Washington Post Fake News
The SHARE Act would allow people to “bring assault guns and other weapons through jurisdictions where they are banned.”
The Facts:
Since 1986, federal law has allowed a person in lawful possession of any firearm to transport it from any place where they can lawfully possess a firearm to any other place where they can lawfully possess the firearm. But authorities in anti-gun localities such as New York and New Jersey have ignored this federal law, and arrested individuals who were lawfully traveling with firearms. The SHARE Act would put a stop to that.
Washington Post Fake News:
The SHARE Act would “[r]oll back decades-old regulations on the use of silencers.
The Facts:
The SHARE Act would simply make it easier for law-abiding gun owners to protect their hearing with suppressors. A firearm suppressor reduces the noise of a firearm to roughly the level of a jackhammer, which, while still loud, will not instantly damage hearing like an unsuppressed firearm. Current federal law requires registration, the paying of a $200 tax, and up to a 12-month wait to acquire a firearm suppressor. The SHARE Act would replace that antiquated 1934 system with the modern NICS system used for acquiring firearms in the United States.
According to the Center for Disease Control, “The only potentially effective noise control method to reduce students’ or instructors’ noise exposure from gunfire is through the use of noise suppressors that can be attached to the end of the gun barrel.” The SHARE Act recognizes that we must give law-abiding sportsmen and women greater options to protect their hearing.
Washington Post Fake News:
The SHARE Act would: “Eas[e] importation of foreign-made assault rifles.”
The Facts:
Due to a quirk in federal firearms import law, firearms that are perfectly legal to manufacture, acquire, and possess in the United States are nonetheless prohibited from importation. The SHARE Act would simply allow for the importation of firearms that are already legal within the United States.
Washington Post Fake News:
The SHARE Act would “[protect] the practice of baiting birds with grain as they migrate and then [allow hunters to mow] them down.
The Facts:
Under current law, if a person hunts migratory game birds near an agricultural area, they can be cited for “baiting” even though they have not engaged in any actual baiting to attract game birds. The SHARE Act would clarify that such activities are only unlawful where normal agricultural operations are altered or manipulated to entice game birds into the area.
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