H.R. 10583, filed in Congress in September by a California politician, Rep. Kevin Mullin, would classify most serious pellet rifles as “firearms” under the federal Gun Control Act. That means federal background checks on dealer sales, serial numbers, federal licenses for the companies that make and sell them, and a blank check for the Attorney General to add more air guns later. As of October 5th the bill had zero cosponsors and no hearing, and Florida Gun Owners wants to keep it that way.
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Can’t see the button? Sign the petition against H.R. 10583 here.
The air gun aisle, run like a gun counter.
Plenty of Florida families keep a pellet rifle in the garage for pests, and plenty of Florida kids learn gun safety on one. Under a bill filed in Congress last month, the store that sold you yours would have to run a federal background check.
The bill is H.R. 10583, from a California politician, Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-CA-15). Its title says it’s written “to classify lethal air guns as firearms.” Once an air gun is a “firearm” under the federal Gun Control Act, the air gun aisle starts running like the gun counter.
Three things H.R. 10583 does
1. It makes most serious pellet rifles “firearms”
The bill’s line: a .177 pellet at 800 feet per second or faster, a .22 at 500, a .25 at 450, or any metallic pellet above .25 caliber at any speed. The only guns carved out are ones that fire nothing but paint-filled pellets.
2. It brings the gun counter to the air gun aisle
Federal background checks on dealer sales. Serial numbers. Federal firearms licenses for the companies that make them and the stores that sell them. Federal paperwork on every dealer sale. The bill even orders the Attorney General to write guidance helping air gun makers become federal firearms licensees, “including serialization and record keeping requirements.”
3. It hands the Attorney General a blank check
The Attorney General can designate any other air gun as a “lethal air gun,” through rulemaking, if he decides it’s “capable of causing death.” The bill sets no limit on that standard.
Today it’s 800 feet per second. The bill already gives the Attorney General a blank check to decide which air guns come next.
The Red Ryder isn’t on the list today. Daisy rates it at up to 350 feet per second, well under the line. But the bill lets the Attorney General add any air gun he deems “capable of causing death.”
Mullin’s case for it: “If a weapon is powerful enough to kill, it should be subject to the same common-sense safety standards as any other gun.” Giffords and March For Our Lives endorsed the bill in his announcement. You know what those groups mean when they say “common-sense.”
Florida gun owners know how this script goes. For decades we’ve been asked, “What do you need an AR-15 for?” and promised, “Relax, nobody’s coming for your hunting rifle.”
Now it’s the pellet rifle in the garage, the one your kids learned gun safety on, and the bill would let the Attorney General put the BB gun on the list later. When they’re coming for something that innocent, you’d better believe the Left won’t be satisfied until we’re disarmed of every possible tool we could use to defend ourselves.
Stop it while it’s standing alone
As of October 5th, H.R. 10583 had zero cosponsors and no hearing in the House Judiciary Committee. Florida Gun Owners wants it to stay that way, and the time to bury a bill like this is before a second politician signs on.
Sign Florida Gun Owners’ petition against H.R. 10583.
| SIGN AGAINST H.R. 10583 |
Can’t see the button? Sign the petition against H.R. 10583 here.
Once you’ve signed, if you can, chip in $17.76 to help FGO keep fighting federal gun control like this.
For Freedom,
Rob Knisley
Political Director
Florida Gun Owners
P.S. Under H.R. 10583, the store selling your next pellet rifle would handle it like a gun sale: background check, serial number, federal paperwork. Sign the petition against H.R. 10583.