HR5717: Is It Bad?

There is a lot going on in the world and the United States right now. One of these things is the proposal of H.R.5717, or the "Gun Violence prevention and Community safety Act of 2020," to Congress earlier this year. We decided dig a little deeper to see what exactly H.R.5717 is all about and what it says. Maybe it's not so bad?Right off the bat, H.R.5717 comes out swinging. The text of the bill says "...build safer communities by strengthening Federal firearms laws..." This is obviously going to be a bill about stricter gun laws, but will it impede the 2nd Amendment? We keep reading.After sorting through the initial congressional verbiage, we get to the juicy parts. This proposed bill immediately states all future gun owners will have to obtain a Federal license. This is in addition to any state license you may already have.It gets better. You will have to be licensed for both firearms and ammunition. That's right, any ammunition you would like to purchase, you must be federally licensed. Plus, there will be a mandatory 7 business day wait period.That's just the first couple of paragraphs. As we continue to peruse the jargon, we are quickly led to the section clearly titled "Assault weapons and firearms silencers and mufflers ban." This is where it gets really interesting.For starters, all AKs and ARs- gone. They will only be authorized very limited manufacturing and they will essentially not be allowed for public purchase. This also includes any caliber of magazine that holds more than 10 rounds. Except, of course, .22 caliber ammunition. (Those tiny little guys can't do any harm, right?)After this bill is enacted, the aforementioned products will also have to have a date stamped onto them. This is to ensure the validity of the legal purchase. Something else we found in the bill- very long lists of the brands and types of AKs, ARs, etc. that will be illegal if this bill passes Congress.We wished it abruptly ended there, however, it did not. We also read that places of business will have stricter regulations for sales and purchases of firearms. All firearms and ammunition will have to be kept in secure metal cabinets, behind several locks and other methods of 'safety.'This includes the methods of which guns are kept in the home as well. They will have to be fully secured at all times, and everyone legal in the home will have to have a license. Each firearm will also have to have locks, at least that's how we read it.Something peculiar also caught our eye regarding gun shop sales, leases, and rentals. They will have to submit a report to the ATF every 5 days. That report will have to include your name, residence, occupation and gender. (No mention of phone or email information, but your gender matters when purchasing a pistol or rifle ammo.)As we were finally getting to the end of the bill, we saw a part about weapons taxes. This bill is proposing 30% taxation on all firearm sales and 50% taxation on all ammunition sales. These taxes will be used to "research gun violence and prevention."The bill wraps up talking about how grants will be used to fund the research and something about $50,000,000 a year to the Attorney General's office for research also. To be honest, at this point, our eyes were starting to cross a little because the congressional jargon is heavy.We are even pretty sure we missed some really big points within the proposed bill as well. If we printed it, it would be almost 60 sheets of paper! All in all, H.R.5717 seems to propose quite a bit that does not exactly sit kosher with the 2nd Amendment.What do you think? Did we translate this bill wrong? Do you agree or disagree with H.R.5717? It does state that all of this only applies to firearms and purchases after the bill is passed.You can also read the proposal, in it's entirety and for yourself, here.