Today’s feature is from the National Shooting Sports Foundation.  

The implications from last week’s election results are quickly reverberating through the halls of Congress. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week titled How Bump Stocks and Other Conversion Devices are Amplifying the Gun Violence Epidemic, and Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) struck a noticeably different tone than his usually combative anti-Second Amendment style, seeking instead to offer to work together with Republicans in the new Congress when majority control flips in January.

“I hope to be able to work with the new incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley,” said Chairman Durbin.

The chairman, of course, works closely with President Joe Biden’s administration and The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to carry out the president’s gun control agenda. Remember that President Biden deemed the firearm industry “the enemy” from the debate stage in 2019. The past four years has seen plenty of combative committee hearings where pro gun control senators attacked law-abiding gun owners and the lawful and highly-regulated firearm arm industry.

The subject of this week’s hearing, after all, was devices that are overwhelmingly used by criminals to commit acts of violence by those skirting existing laws.

Opening Video Déjá Vue

Starting things off to set the tone for the hearing, Chairman Durbin used a favored play call during these gun control hearings. He played a video montage of numerous heinous acts committed by criminals misusing firearms as a way of arguing why more laws are needed on law-abiding Americans.

After the video montage of criminal violence, Chairman Durbin continued his opening remarks.

“Glock switches, which are banned under federal law are cheap, often costing less than $20, and they’ve been increasingly common across our country,” the chairman said. “We must act. Gun manufacturers can and should do more to ensure their products cannot be converted into illegal machine guns. If manufacturers fail to act, Congress should take up legislation to hold these companies liable for the foreseeable consequences of their actions.”

Of course, the White House coordinated with Everytown and the City of Chicago to sue GLOCK under this baseless legal theory; and is the subject of an ongoing congressional investigation.

Chairman Durbin gives away his authority here as he knows perfectly well that lawful firearm manufacturers can’t and should not be held liable for the criminal actions of unaffiliated remote third parties. This is the cornerstone of American jurisprudence and codified in the bipartisan Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) that countless gun control activists wish to eliminate. The chairman said it himself – these illegal firearm conversion devices like Glock switches are already illegal. Prosecutors need to get tough and hold criminals accountable for committing these horrible crimes.

Key Witnesses Back Enforcement and Constitutional Rights

The hearing on gun violence and conversion devices was lightly attended due to Republican members holding their new leadership elections, so the committee attendees were only Democratic senators. But behind the witness table were two strong Second Amendment advocates who offered clear and succinct testimony in favor of more law enforcement and protecting constitutional rights…not more gun control regulations on law-abiding Americans.

Zach Smith is a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and got right to the point during his opening statement.

“Fundamentally, today’s hearing is focused on the wrong solution, aimed at the wrong problem,” Smith stated. “Contrary to the title of today’s hearing, there is not a gun violence epidemic in our country, but there is a violent crime epidemic, and unfortunately, too many elected leaders are refusing to take the simple yet necessary steps needed to combat this crime epidemic, namely funding the police and prosecuting criminals.”

“Often today, criminals are treated as victims and the true victims are the forgotten component when discussing crime, violence, and criminal justice reforms,” Smith added.

It’s a familiar feeling in cities across the country where George Soros-funded prosecutors immediately went soft on criminals when they took office and then oversaw dramatic crime surges in there cities. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg comes to mind. So does Los Angeles District Attorney George Gáscon, who was just denied reelection by fed-up voters.

Closer to Chairman Durbin’s home of Chicago, Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx realized what voters had in store for her and didn’t seek reelection.

FFL compliance attorney and Second Amendment rights advocate, who has also worked for NSSF, Ryan Cleckner also testified. He echoed similar sentiments as Smith’s prior testimony.

“Now, these conversion devices or GLOCK switches or auto sears, they are absolutely machine guns, okay? The National Firearms Act…and later laws like the Gun Control Act says that any parts that can be used to convert a firearm into a machine gun are also a firearm,” Cleckner explained. “They’re already heavily regulated. They’re already completely illegal. The ATF is already going outta the way to enforce this rise that we have with them being used.”

“I think the way that we solve this problem is not to make an item more illegal. Because it’s status of being a significantly illegal item does nothing apparently to stop these criminals from using them,” Cleckner said. “I think what’s gonna stop their use is if we actually prosecute the criminals that are using these illegal items.”

Root Cause Ignored

As mentioned, the hearing was shorter than normal and only a few senators attended to ask questions. But there was a common theme coming from their questions – ignoring the criminals. U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) both remarked and criticized the PLCAA that protects the firearm industry from being held responsible for the actions of criminals.

The other pro-gun control witnesses focused on many of the same talking points as well – ignoring the criminals committing the crimes, blaming the firearm industry for criminal firearm misuse and pushing more gun control restrictions on law-abiding Americans.

With a new Republican controlled Senate majority taking over in January 2025, as well as the House of Representatives staying in Republican control and President-elect Donald Trump returning to The White House too, policy discussions in Washington will likely return again to focusing on safeguarding constitutional rights like the Second Amendment and getting back to holding criminals accountable for their violent actions.

Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.