Illegal sales already covered

By Wayne LaPierre

"Hezbollah is getting millions of dollars from Iran. They have plenty of weapons. They don't need a few shotguns from Dearborn." This quote from an Arab-American news editor exposes the flawed logic of America's anti-gun lobby.

If private gun commerce by violent criminals, drug dealers or fugitives from justice — or illegal aliens — is the target, bear in mind that gun commerce by such persons — anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances — is already covered by federal criminal statutes. Simple gun possession by prohibited persons is a federal felony punishable by 10 years in a federal slammer.

Foreign terrorists? It's a federal felony for an illegal alien to "ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition." That covers everything, everywhere.

And if any person acquires a firearm with the intention of violating other laws — anti-terrorism laws, for example — that act, too, is covered by tough federal penalties.

So, so-called "gun-show loophole" legislation, such as Sen. John McCain's bill, for example, wouldn't make what criminals or terrorists might do at gun shows any more illegal. It would make what decent citizens do illegal.

With the anti-gun-rights advocates and their political axis in Congress cashing in on "terrorism" as their new watchword for gun control, our liberties are at stake as never before. They are using "terrorism" and "homeland defense" as an excuse to enact universal, national gun-owner registration and laws that would criminalize all now-legal, private, intrastate-firearms transactions — meaning all sales, trades, gifts — between peaceable persons. First at gun shows, then everywhere: in our homes, between friends and neighbors.

If you own a gun, they want your name in a computerized federal database, profiling you on the basis of mere ownership of a firearm. And they want to paint you as unpatriotic for not surrendering your Second Amendment freedom.

Our nation's 70 million firearms owners are not terrorists, and we must never pay the price for what evil people do.

That was the message from pro-freedom voters in last year's elections. It rings just as true today.

Wayne LaPierre is executive vice president of the National Rifle Association of America.