Bad Medicine for Gun Owners: Confirmation Vote Looms for Obama’s Anti-gun Surgeon General Nominee

As we began reporting earlier this year, President Obama has nominated anti-gun activist Vivek Murthy for the post of U.S. Surgeon General. Particularly given the president’s determination to reinvigorate taxpayer-funded gun control propaganda under the guise of public health research, confirmation of Dr. Murthy would pose a serious threat to the rights of gun owners. Dr. Murthy’s résumé of partisan activism on behalf of gun control, in which he specifically leveraged his status as a doctor, is detailed at length in a letter NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox sent on Tuesday to Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.), reasserting NRA’s opposition to his nomination.

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New Research Finds Broad Increase in Support for Gun Rights

Support for the right to keep and bear arms has sharply increased, and support for restricting gun ownership has sharply decreased, over the last two years, according to the results of a new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

The poll, conducted earlier this month, found that 57 percent of Americans believe that gun ownership does more to protect people from crime, while only 38 percent believe guns do more to put people at risk.

House Committee Faults FDIC for Participation in Operation Choke Point

In May, we reported on a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee exposé that substantiated improper activities by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the guise of Operation Choke Point. While DOJ insisted that the operation was meant to protect the soundness of America’s financial system by targeting fraudulent businesses, the committee report concluded that the true goal of the operation was to “choke out” legitimate industries that regulators considered objectionable. Among others, these included firearm and ammunition sales.

Wisconsin Police Chief Badgers Residents to Forego Second and Fourth Amendment Rights

Perhaps inspired by the recent introduction of surprise home inspections of gun licensees in the UK, Beloit, Wisc., Police Chief Norm Jacobs issued a press release on December 1, urging city residents to volunteer for warrantless police searches of their homes for firearms. Jacobs framed the residential probes as a valuable “opportunity” his department was offering to the public. Notably, the press release did not offer participants immunity from prosecution for any illegally-possessed firearms or other contraband police might find while “inspecting” the premises, suggesting the program was aimed squarely at law-abiding households.

Washington State Gun Control Activists Vow More Legislation

In Washington State, gun control activists are already vowing that the recently-passed anti-gun Initiative 594 is just their first step toward dismantling gun rights. In fact, they are promising to dump more anti-gun bills at the legislative session next month.

I-594 is an ill-conceived and deeply flawed initiative that was sold to Washington voters as a means of keeping them safer. Under I-594’s restrictive language, a person simply handing his or her firearm to another is presumptively required to broker this “transfer” through a gun dealer, with very few exceptions. This also necessitates the accompanying background check, fee, paperwork, taxes and, in the case of a handgun, state registration.