The House of Representatives will soon take up legislation to require universal background checks for gun buyers. The Bipartisan Background Checks Act — H.R. 8, introduced by Representative Mike Thompson (CA-D) — has 230 cosponsors, including five Republicans. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the bill on February 6, titled “Preventing Gun Violence: A Call to Action.” The bill would close the “gun show loophole,” which allows people purchasing firearms through private sales, typically at gun shows, to forgo a background check. Under the legislation, only licensed firearms dealers would be permitted to exchange weapons, with a few…

One item in the recently enacted Farm Bill is the legalization of hemp farming. The law incorporates Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (KY-R) Hemp Farming Act of 2018, which took hemp off of the Controlled Substances Act. It’s the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s job to put the farm bill into action. (In general, the law deals with programs that include rural development, conservation, and nutrition as well as farming.) Also, it enables hemp producers to obtain Federal crop insurance. (McConnell signed the Farm Bill Conference Report with a pen made from hemp.) In a December 2018 speech, McConnell stated: “Last…

The Trump Administration has proposed a new rule that would ban bump stocks, devices that are used to make semiautomatic guns operate like machine guns. The shooter in the Las Vegas shooting used a bump stock. Bump stocks are banned in some States, including Delaware, Hawaii, and Florida. In December of 2018, the Department of Justice wrote that it was “… amending the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to clarify that bump-stock-type devices—meaning “bump fire” stocks, slide-fire devices, and devices with certain similar characteristics—are “machineguns” as defined by the National Firearms Act of 1934…

A position paper published by the American College of Physicians (ACP) on November 20, 2018, argued that firearm-related deaths and injuries in the United States need to be addressed. The paper stated: “The ACP is concerned about not only the alarm­ing number of mass shootings in the United States but also the daily toll of firearm violence in neigh­borhoods, homes, workplaces, and public and private places across the country.” The National Rifle Association responded with a tweet that said: “Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are…

On October 30, President Trump announced that he is considering issuing an Executive Order to end birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship is the principle that anyone born on American soil is automatically a citizen, regardless of the immigration status of the parents, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the state wherein they reside.” The Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in 1868 as part of the Reconstruction Amendments after the Civil War, and was intended to…

In early October, in a rare act of bipartisanship, Congress approved a legislative package to address the opioid epidemic, sending it to the President for his signature. The conference report on the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act passed the Senate on October 3 by a vote of 98 to 1, and the House on October 5 by a vote of 393 to 8. The legislation: Reauthorizes funding for the 21st Century Cures Act, passed by the previous Congress, which provided $500 million annually to combat the opioid crisis, and gives…

On August 9, Vice President Pence laid out an ambitious plan to establish a “Space Force” by 2020 as the sixth branch of the U.S. military. The new branch would be the first since the Air Force was formed shortly after World War II. Pence stated: “The space environment has fundamentally changed in the last generation. What was once peaceful and uncontested is now crowded and adversarial. Today, other nations are seeking to disrupt our space-based systems and challenge American supremacy in space as never before.” Pence cited he pursuit of new space weapons by Russia, China, North Korea, and…

Ten Senate Republicans have introduced a bill designed to guarantee protections for patients with pre-existing conditions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The move is in response to a lawsuit brought by 20 States that are seeking to invalidate the law since Congress effectively ended the “individual mandate” that requires most Americans to have health insurance coverage or pay a fine. The U.S. Department of Justice has declined to defend the ACA in court and has called provisions of that prohibit discrimination based on pre-existing conditions unconstitutional. Oral arguments in Texas v. United States began in early September. The Republican…

On August 8, the Senate defeated a proposal to provide States with $250 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 to secure their voting systems. The 50-to-47 vote — on an amendment to H.R. 6147, an appropriations package — fell short of the number needed for adoption. Senator Bob Corker (TN-R) was the only Republican to support it. Democrats have been seeking to provide extra fund­ing for Election Assistance Commission grants to States. Congress previously provided $380 million for the grants in the FY 2018 omnibus appropriations bill, and Republi­cans have stated that they prefer to wait before providing more. They…

Senate Democrats and attorneys general from eight States and the District of Columbia have launched a campaign to block the availability online of computer models of firearms. These models can be used in conjunction with new 3D printing technology to manufacture guns and gun parts. Senators Ed Markey (MA-D), Richard Blumenthal (CT-D), and others have filed legislation to prohibit the publi­cation of a digital file online that allows a 3D printer to manufacture a firearm. A separate bill would require all guns to have at least one significant component made of metal. Lawmakers and the attorneys general are concerned that…