It's official--the NRA is working with gun hating Representative Carolyn "I don't know what a barrel shroud is, but let's ban them anyway" McCarthy

I have mentioned before (mostly here) my concern that the NRA would actively support H.R. 297, the NICS "Improvement" Act, introduced by Carolyn McCarthy (you remember her wisdom, don't you?). H.R. 297, which "improves" nothing but the government's ability to more fully monitor the populace, is gaining traction in the wake of the Virginia Tech killings (ten of its fourteen co-sponsors have signed on since the massacre--seven of those yesterday and the day before), after revelations that Cho had not been barred from purchasing firearms, despite having been deemed a danger to himself and others due to mental illness.

This thinking, of course, ignores the fact that anyone who is so dangerously mentally ill that he must be barred from purchasing firearms should also be considered a risk to steal a gun, purchase one illegally, or simply carry out his carnage by some other method. In short, he should not be running free in society, at least without a custodian.

McCarthy has introduced such legislation before (every Congressional session, since at least 2002), but thankfully, it has never gone far. This year, the story is different, with civilian disarmament advocates in Congress conveniently provided with a fresh massacre to exploit in furtherance of their agenda. Still, even an internationally high-profile mass murder like the one committed by Cho will not necessarily lead to the successful passage of federal legislation imposing more draconian restrictions on firearms, as demonstrated by all the restrictive gun laws that were proposed after Columbine, and went nowhere.

The bigger danger this year, as I have mentioned in previous blog entries, stems from the threat of the NRA supporting this dangerous legislation. In the past, although the NRA did little or nothing to actively fight McCarthy's Big Brother data grab, they did not actively support it, either. As I had feared would happen, that has now changed.

In his interview with NEWSWEEK, LaPierre brushed aside suggestions that measures such as the McCarthy bill constituted a new form of “gun control” as the Gun Owners of America have charged.

Authorizing federal government access to "confidential" medical information anytime someone tries to buy a gun is not "gun control"? What, pray tell, is it, then?

He said the NRA, which has long been a powerful opponent of gun control, has always supported denying gun rights to those who are mentally “defective”—one of the categories of individuals who are banned from owning firearms under the 1968 Gun Control Act. (Others include felons, fugitives, and drug users.) “We’ve been there for decades on this,” said LaPierre. “We just don’t think it’s really gun control to try to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally defective.”

I wonder who Wayne figures is going to be the arbiter of who is "mentally defective"--has he not noticed that the enemies of private gun ownership argue that anyone who wants a gun is mentally defective? Is he unaware that tens of thousands of courageous military service members are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with a need for mental health help? After carrying guns for the defense of their country, are they to be denied by that same country the right to buy one for the defense of themselves?

The GOA is absolutely correct in rejecting and criticizing the NRA's Faustian bargain. With GOA fighting both the "official" advocates of restrictive gun legislation and the NRA, they're going to need help. If you haven't already.