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April 16, 2025
U.S. Sen. Heinrich Goes All-In on Gun Control with Unserious Move to Address Serious Criminal Violence
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is at it again. During the 118th Congressional session (2023-2024), he introduced S. 3369, a drastic gun control bill that did nothing to hold criminals who already break the law accountable for violent crimes but would only penalize law-abiding gun owners and buyers and trample upon their Second Amendment rights.
The bill was so extreme, it not only didn’t make it out of committee for full Senate consideration, it didn’t even receive a hearing. By the way, Democrats controlled the U.S. Senate – led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) – during the 118th Congress and former President Joe Biden was still occupying The White House.
It’s a new year, a new congressional session and now there’s a new Republican-controlled majority in the Senate. That makes no difference to the Brady Campaign-endorsed senator. Sen. Heinrich reintroduced the Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion Act (GO SAFE Act) once again, proclaiming his repeat attempt to ban commonly-owned firearms.
“As a sportsman and gun owner, I’m committed to upholding the laws that protect responsible gun ownership, but we must do more to prevent deadly weapons from reaching those who are all too ready to turn them against our communities,” Sen. Heinrich said in a press release.
The GO SAFE Act won’t gain any traction again this Congressional session, nor should it. The legislation is clearly unconstitutional as it would ban entire classes of firearms, which is strictly prohibited under the U.S. Supreme Court’s holdings in the landmark 2008 Heller decision.
A similar bill to ban Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) was rejected by lawmakers in Sen. Heinrich’s home state, not just this past year but also in previous years.
Unserious and Unconstitutional
The GO SAFE Act won’t do anything to stop criminals from illegally obtaining firearms and it won’t stop them from breaking the law when they commit heinous acts of violence against innocent Americans. What it will do, however, is penalize law-abiding gun owners and those seeking to purchase lawful firearms to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
If Sen. Heinrich had his way, his legislation would ban the sale of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) – the most popular-selling centerfire semiautomatic rifle in the country – and most other semiautomatic rifles. Industry data shows there are over 30 million MSRs in circulation. To put that in perspective, that’s more common than Ford F-150s on the road today (the most popular selling pickup truck in America).
But his bill isn’t just about banning the firearms he and his gun control activist allies falsely deem “assault rifles.” It would also place specific bans on everything that uses a short or long-stroke gas piston, direct impingement action, blowback action or recoil-operated system, and accepts some sort of detachable magazine. The result is that the only firearms not affected by Sen. Heinrich’s trawling-net gun ban bill would be autoloaders with limited fixed magazines, revolvers, single/double shot firearms and those with a manual bolt, lever or pump action.
“As a sportsman and gun owner,” Sen. Heinrich knows the ridiculousness of this kind of gun ban legislation. The firearm industry decried his introduction of it the first time in 2023. That he’s doing it again demonstrates he’s only interested in placating the gun control activists at Brady, Giffords and Everytown and is not serious about working towards real solutions to keep communities safe.
Neighbor to the North
Sen. Heinrich isn’t the only one pushing unconstitutional gun bans on law-abiding Americans, though. Maybe there’s something funky in the air blowing down to New Mexico from neighboring Colorado. That’s where Sen. Heinrich’s neighbor to the north, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, just signed a similarly unconstitutional gun ban into law after Colorado lawmakers went full Rocky Mountain high with their latest gun grab proposal.
Gov. Polis signed SB25-003 into law, which also bans the sale of MSRs in the state unless Coloradans first obtain approval from their county sheriff, based on subjective criteria, and receive a permit-to-purchase semiautomatic firearms capable of accepting detachable magazines. The criteria for the permit-to-purchase, of course, has not yet been finalized. SB25-003 also bans the sale of semiautomatic shotguns and pistols that can accept detachable magazines, unless of course the lawful purchaser first obtains similar approval from county sheriffs and a permit-to-purchase.
The Colorado Sun explained it to Rocky Mountain State residents bluntly – it’s an “eligibility card.”
“People will have the ability to purchase firearms banned under Senate Bill 3 if they get a ‘firearms safety course eligibility card.’ To get a card, a person would have to first be vetted by their county sheriff, which would include a background check. Once someone gets an eligibility card, they must complete up to a dozen hours of training over two days, depending on whether they have already completed a hunter education course, and pass a test. At that point they would be allowed to purchase a weapon otherwise banned under Senate Bill 3,” the news site reported.
Not wanting the moment to pass without making their ire clearly known, Teller County commissioners passed a resolution decrying the unconstitutional gun control law.
The law, “Is an unfunded mandate that requires county sheriffs to fingerprint and conduct background checks on applicants; will harm gun store owners, rendering it illegal to sell large portions of their merchandise, potentially driving gun businesses to close or move out of state; requires law-abiding citizens to jump through unnecessary hoops and pay fees to exercise their Second Amendment rights; and is one of the most restrictive gun-licensing systems in the United States,” the commissioners stated.
Colorado sheriffs are also denouncing the “nightmare” of the new law.
Rights Revered Again
Former President Joe Biden spent four years decrying law-abiding gun owners and attacking the lawful and highly-regulated firearm industry at every opportunity, including repeated calls for Congress to ban the so-called “assault weapons” that Sen. Heinrich’s bill would ban. Congress – the collective voice of the People – repeatedly rejected those calls and Americans instead went on a gun-buying spree that saw millions of Americans buy their first MSR.
Now, with President Donald Trump back in The White House, the administration has declared that the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans are going to be revered once more and protected.
Sen. Heinrich and Gov. Polis should take the hint. The solution to the crime problem is to get tough on criminals, not to ban guns.
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