Monday, June 8, 2015

NRA charges State Department of seeking 'gag order' on online gun talk

The National Rifle Association is warning new rules proposed by the State Department would have the chilling effect of stifling the right of citizens to speak freely about their firearms.

The group said in a statement the rules are akin to a "gag order on firearm-related speech," the Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard first reported.

The NRA pointed to the State Department's updates on international arms sales' regulations and said a provision within would mandate anyone who wants to post particulars about gunsn and ammunnition on the Internet first receive approval from the federal government. Those who don't could face fines of $1 million as well as 20 years in jail, Fox News reported.

And that provision would impact even bloggers and social media posters, the NRA warned.

"Gunsmiths, manufacturers, reloaders and do-it-yourselfers could all find themselves muzzles under the rule and unable to distribute or obtain the information they rely on to conduct these activities," the NRA said in a statement.

"This latest regulatory assault," the NRA went on, "published in the June 3 issue of the Federal Register, is as much an affront to the First Amendment as it is to the Second. Your action is urgently needed to ensure that online blogs, videos and web forums devoted to the technical aspects of firearms and ammunition do not become subject to prior review by State Department bureaucrats before they can be published."

The State Department regulation spans 14 pages.

2 comments:

  1. Guns in US has always been a topic for debate and these gun killings had made it a hotter topic for discussion.Guns are supposed to be used for safety of oneself and others but the cases of massacres had has changed the scene and shown the actual reality of keeping guns and easy availability of that killer. Out there in Us it is very easy to get the license by simply joining the Firearms safety training classes and become eligible to get gun of your own choice. All we need to do is simply spreading awareness regarding this issue.

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