Politics

Bills on Bills

By Sunlight Foundation & Participatory Politics Foundation

The Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act (H.R. 45) has been one of the most-viewed bills on OpenCongress for months. The bill would establish a nationwide system for prohibiting unlicensed gun-ownership, and OpenCongress users are overwhelmingly opposed.

I just noticed another bill that has been proposed in the House, a non-binding resolution introduced by two Democrats, the sole purpose of which seems to be a statement of opposition to the Blair Holt’s bill. It even mention’s the bill by number within it’s legislative text.

Does anyone know of any other bills in Congress that are about other bills in Congress?

H. Res. 351 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a Federal statute requiring firearm registration would unduly burden the Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms.

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a Federal statute requiring firearm registration would unduly burden the Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms.

Whereas the soldiers of the Continental Army and other patriots who fought to secure the independence of the United States did not do so using registered firearms;

Whereas the right of the people to keep and bear arms, protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, is rooted in the principle of liberty, upon which the United States was founded;

Whereas the Supreme Court has consistently upheld the right of the people to keep and bear arms, most recently in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller (128 S.Ct. 2783 (2008));

Whereas the right of the people to keep and bear arms has a history of robust legal protection, reflecting a consensus that certain bans on firearms are unconstitutional;

Whereas firearm registration should be held to be an undue burden on the right of the people to keep and bear arms, consistent with the firm convictions to that effect of many of the people and the history of robust legal protection for the right; and

Whereas H.R. 45 of the 111th Congress, if enacted, would unduly burden the right of the people to keep and bear arms by requiring firearm registration: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that a Federal statute requiring firearm registration, such as is proposed by H.R. 45 of the 111th Congress, would—

(1) be contrary to the Constitution of the United States;

(2) unduly burden the right of the people to keep and bear arms; and

(3) stand in opposition to the founding principles of the United States

Full post as published by Open Congress on June 15, 2009 (boomark / email).