Anti-Gun Congressman Wants to Regulate Air Guns like Firearms

Some air-powered guns are anything but toys. Others actually are. Either way, they’re considered great starter guns for many due to the lower cost, the lower power levels, and the lack of recoil. Hell, a lot of experienced shooters use them for target practice from time to time.

They’re not firearms, though, and that’s an important thing to understand.

For one congressman from California — I know, big shock — that doesn’t matter. What matters is that someone did something with one, and now, we’re all supposed to kneel to the fearmongering.

Modern airguns can be powerful enough to cause serious injury or death, yet face far fewer safeguards than traditional firearms simply because they use compressed air instead of gunpowder. To close this dangerous gap, Rep. Kevin Mullin (CA-15) introduced Garrett’s Law today after one of his constituents lost her son to suicide involving a high-powered airgun. 

Existing law requires licensed firearms manufacturers and dealers to conduct a background check on prospective buyers to identify individuals who are prohibited from owning a firearm, such as felons or those with certain severe mental health conditions. Yet, lethal airguns are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission as consumer products, rather than as dangerous weapons regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. As a result, any individual can bypass a background check to purchase a type of airgun that is as deadly as a firearm, regardless of criminal history or ability to otherwise legally own a firearm.    

This loophole has caused irreparable and, in some cases, fatal harm. Garrett Edwards, a constituent of Rep. Mullin, struggled with mental health during the pandemic and was prohibited from possessing a firearm by law. Yet, sadly, when his condition worsened, Garrett legally purchased a lethal airgun online and used it to take his own life. To prevent similar tragedies, Garrett’s Law would close this dangerous gap in federal lawby designating high-powered, lethal airguns as firearms.  

“Garrett should still be here today,” said Rep. Mullin. “If a weapon is powerful enough to kill, it should be subject to the same common-sense safety standards as any other gun. It makes no sense that someone prohibited by law from purchasing a firearm can still walk into a store or go online and legally obtain an airgun capable of killing. This bill closes that gap and, hopefully, helps prevent another family from facing this kind of unimaginable loss.” 

There’s no “loophole” here. They’re not firearms. The law was created around firearms.

Air guns can kill, sure, but the odds of it happening are much slimmer. 

I mean, Mullin all but admits it when he points out that it was a single constituent who approached him wanting this. Garrett took his own life, and he did it with an air gun. There’s no mention of how old Garrett was, but I do know that if there was some kind of epidemic of people committing suicide with air guns, we’d have more than just one person asking Mullin for this.

And what about other means of suicide? If we’re going to regulate something that causes a level of serious harm that might not even reach tens of victims, then what about razor blades, rope, car exhaust, and tall buildings?

Unsurprisingly, Giffords’s Emma Brown thinks this is swell.

“Airguns can be lethal, and current federal law ignores that by allowing unfettered access to them,” said Emma Brown, Executive Director at GIFFORDS. “We’re glad to see Rep. Mullin introducing this legislation to create basic guardrails for these previously unregulated weapons, and we urge Congress to swiftly pass it.” 

Then we get this banger from March for Our Lives:

“Lethal weapons should be treated like lethal weapons,” said Jaclyn Corin, Co-Founder of March For Our Lives Foundation. “March For Our Lives supports Garrett’s Law because our laws should reflect the real-world risks posed by high-powered airguns capable of taking a life. We’re grateful to Congressman Mullin for his leadership in addressing this gap in federal law and advancing a common-sense measure to help prevent gun violence and save lives.” 

Lethal weapons should be treated like lethal weapons, eh? Fine, then let’s implement a three-day waiting period for kitchen knives, mandatory background checks on all hammers, and an age limit of 21 on baseball bat sales.

Honestly, the mental disability known as hoplophobia is perhaps the least understood of all mental disabilities.

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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