OPINION:
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump issued a rule banning bump stocks. Just a few days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court — rightly — struck down this ban, ruling it 6-3 unconstitutional. Now Democrats are crying.
Now Democrats are waxing hysterical, whining about the high court’s intent to fundamentally change the Second Amendment and other such nonsense.
The court got it right.
For the record — just to insert a modicum of truth in the Democrats’ histrionics —simply to slow the roll on the media’s looming run with these Democrat talking points — SCOTUS basically did for the bump stock ban what it did for Roe v. Wade, that is to say, returned the issue to the legislative branch to decide.
And that is what a court that’s not activist in tone and tenor does.
Here’s the context: In 2018, on the heels of some massive and very high-profile and atrocious shootings, Trump issued an order banning the sale and possession of bump stocks, those devices that attach to semiautomatics to enable the rapid firing of bursts of rounds. There was no grandfather clause to the ban. Bump stock owners would have 90 days to destroy them or turn then in at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. And the logic behind the ban that was used as legal justification was that Gun Control Act already prohibits the purchase of machine guns and bump stocks, in essence — it was argued — turns semiautomatics into fully automatic firearms.
Agree or disagree — that’s not the point.
The point is this bump stock ban was executively issued. It wasn’t legislatively debated and passed into law.
So now come the courts. Predictably, the bump stock ban was challenged. Happily, the Supreme Court ruled the president overreached.
And when it comes to core, basic, civil and God-given rights and liberties, it shouldn’t matter to Americans and patriots if it’s a Republican who overreaches or a Democrat who overreaches: The overreach is wrong.
Congressional members, though, actually love it when presidents overreach because it means they don’t have to take open, transparent votes on issues that are contentious and that could lose them elections.
When a Democrat president overreaches, Democrat members of Congress bask in their leftist win, while Republican members of Congress ride the media circuits decrying the lawless Democrat president and morally bankrupt Democrat legislators who support the lawless Democrat president’s overreach.
When a Republican president overreaches, Republican members of Congress flock to defend the action as necessary, while Democrats take their turn on the high horse to finger-shake at Republicans for their lawless and unconstitutional ways.
Congress has become the place for cowards.
The White House has become the go-to for all the policies and laws that Congress can’t or won’t pass.
Roe v. Wade was shot down by SCOTUS because it was never passed into law by legislators — the law-making body — and the reason it was never passed into law is that politicians like to take the easy way out and skirt accountability when they can. Bump stock bans — similarly so. They were never passed into law.
They were never voted as a ban by the duly elected lawmakers.
They were never put to the legislative test, where they were put in the form of a bill, brought forth for public hearings, covered as contentious items of debate by the media — for all to hear and see and read — and never, never, most importantly never, put to a vote that would have allowed the American people, i.e., the voters, the final say.
When legislators don’t legislate but rather let somebody else do their job, all of America’s voters lose because all of America suffers the chip to the Constitution.
On “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper, Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, expressed his biggest concern that “this Supreme Court has been signaling, in some of their decisions on guns, that they are readying to fundamentally rewrite the Second Amendment and take away permanently the ability of Congress to do simple things, like require people to go through a background check or move forward on taking dangerous weapons like AR-15s off of the street,” The Hill reported.
And toward that point, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. noted that a “simple remedy” for those who wish to see bump stocks ban is to — hey now, get this — pass a law banning bump stocks.
What a concept.
But lawmakers don’t want to make laws so much as whine about laws and would-be laws and pretend they don’t have the power to do what their titles suggest: make laws.
Legislators wield considerable power, according to the Constitution, including the ability to control purse strings. They need to do Americans a favor and stop relying on presidents to pass executive orders and issue executive decrees just so they can avoid the accountability to the people. And when they do rely on the president to tackle their own legislative duties, they need to at least quit crying when the courts step in and correct this constitutional wrong.
If legislators can’t stand the idea of recorded votes, and they can’t deal with the feedback from their own constituents about their recorded votes, they need to get out of office and let somebody with stronger principles and less cowardly ways serve instead.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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