I watched the whole thing. This was just a legislative hearing where the Committee members listen to testimony from expert witnesses covering the provisions and amendments in the Bill. This bill is being introduced in the House Committee on Natural Resources, which deals a lot with Federal lands-the main focus of the bill being to update management of Federal lands to better serve the wildlife and human population interface.
The firearms aspects of the bill cover inter-State transportation of firearms for lawful purposes, as well as the HPA.
The proponents of the bill had expert testimony from:
The Safari Club
Hope for Warriors
2A attorney who represented the pro-2A case in Heller
The opponents of the bill had witness testimony from:
Anti-gun activist and former ATF agent David Chipman
The proponents discussed in-depth the positive aspects of the bill and the problems it addresses that have arisen out of conflict between Federal and State law as to land management and firearms transportation (people being arrested because they landed in NY with their firearms when their flights were diverted where NY police told them that Federal law doesn't apply in NY), cases where skiers on Federal land said they don't feel safe when people are hunting in the area in hunting season, management of grey wolf species that have exceeded the intended repopulation numbers, and the HPA.
The 25yr ATF agent and his "expert, professional, LE" opinion focused entirely on the HPA aspect of the bill, stating that the widespread issuance of suppressors, "which are dangerous weapons that allow snipers to go out at night and snipe people undetected", would cause a massive headache for LE. He also stated that suppressors were never used in his vast LE career, which included being on a SWAT Team.
He also stated that the reason why people didn't die when the Bernie Sanders supporter gunned down Congressmen and their aides was because they could hear the distinct gunfire, and then was refuted by one of the members of Congress who corrected him succinctly by relating the actual testimony of the people being shot at, saying that the first shot didn't sound like a gun at all, more like a metal trashcan falling down, and that a combat veteran on the field recognized the incoming fire visually, then directed everyone to dive into a dugout.
The "expert ATF witness" went on about how suppressors allowed Police Officer Christopher Dorner to go on a shooting spree undetected, including ambushes of other police officers at night. Keep in mind that only LE has access to suppressors in CA, where Dorner murdered his victims willfully, with premeditated planning of his attacks on other police officers. The ATF witness said he never saw or experienced use of suppressors in his "vast career".
The ATF witness portrayed a general state of disarray and mayhem if suppressors were to be deregulated, showing extreme levels of ignorance and blatant lies about the facts related to them. One major statement he made was that suppressors aren't a problem right now because they are so heavily regulated, otherwise they would be used in crimes all the time.
When you look at the firearms crimes around the world where suppressors are readily available, like in Europe, there is zero data to support that claim.
The expert witnesses in support of the HPA had to clarify several times that it is still recommended that you wear hearing protection when using suppressors, and that they are not quiet like in the movies.
If I were at the hearing, I would love to have asked the retired ATF expert what enumerated powers under the Constitution governed the creation of the ATF, and should we also have Federal agencies to regulate free speech, assembly, press, religion, 4th and 5th Amendment rights, or are we fine with just having one that's sole purpose is to violate the 2nd and leave it at that.
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