Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told her followers in Cleveland on Wednesday if elected she will not repeal the Second Amendment.
“I am, not at all, advocating any program that would in any way take people’s guns away,” Clinton said.
Hillary Clinton: “I am not, at all, advocating the repeal of the Second Amendment” https://t.co/6OZtrfIwim https://t.co/vA949InAeC
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 17, 2016
In fact, she is.
While it is true Clinton has not, as Donald Trump claims, advocated repealing the Second Amendment, she is in favor of several measures that would severely limit the access of firearms and make it financially unfeasible for millions of Americans to practice their right under the Second Amendment.
Clinton has supported a 25% sales tax on handguns, a move that would have increased the price of a handgun by a hundred dollars or more. Clinton avoided answering a question on the proposed gun tax in June when she was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News.
She endorsed a national sales tax during testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 30, 1993.
“I’m not going to commit to any specific proposal,” Clinton told Stephanopoulos after the clip was played. “I was speaking personally then. I would have to, you know, consider any proposal in light of how it interacted with all the others that we want to continue to advocate for, particularly, as I said, comprehensive background checks.”
Bill Clinton was in office less than a month when his President’s Task Force on National Health Care Reform suggested a tax not only on firearms, but also insurance premiums, corporate health benefits, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.
In November 1993, Hillary Clinton supported an even more draconian taxation scheme on ammunition proposed by Democrat Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan. The measure would have imposed a tax between 10% and 50% on center-fire handgun ammunition. Clinton told Moynihan the proposal deserved “serious consideration.”
Clinton’s proposed new background check scheme would also increase the cost of firearms. Background checks on the private sale and transfer of firearms in New York City, Washington and New Jersey have imposed fees of between $60 and $125 and Clinton’s proposal would likely do likewise.
Additional measures would raise the cost of purchasing a firearm even more. Clinton has pushed the idea holding firearms manufacturers liable for guns which end up being used in crimes. This would obviously raise the price of firearms and also drive some gun manufacturers out of business.
Clinton lied about the proposal during a forum in Iowa last October. She declared that gun manufacturers are “the only business in America that is wholly protected from any kind of liability. They can sell a gun to someone they know they shouldn’t, and they won’t be sued. There will be no consequences.”
In fact, the firearms industry is susceptible to lawsuits under certain circumstances. Moreover, Congress has passed several laws that protect a variety of industries from lawsuits.
“After adding up all these fees, taxes, and liabilities, few Americans are going to be able to afford guns. That is especially true for the people who need guns the most for protection—poor blacks who live in high crime urban areas. It wouldn’t be surprising if some otherwise law-abiding citizens resort to buying guns illegally,” notes Fox News.
“With her recent ABC interview, Clinton has now publicly contemplated prohibitive taxes on firearms and ammunition over a span of nearly a quarter-century. Clinton’s consideration of imposing severe taxes on the exercise of our rights is just one reason among many that gun owners and other supporters of individual liberty must actively join the fight to protect the Second Amendment,” the NRA opined after the Stephanopoulos interview.
Hillary Clinton is involved in a slight of hand in regard to the Second Amendment. She may not, for now, call for an outright repeal of the Second Amendment, however, if elected, she will have the opportunity to appoint a number of Supreme Court justices. A Clinton dominated Supreme Court will undoubtedly move to overturn the District of Columbia v. Heller decision reaffirming the Second Amendment and the right of citizens to possess firearms.
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