Stacey Abrams Sponsored Bill to Ban and Seize Commonly Owned Semiautomatic Firearms

Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (D) sponsored legislation in 2016 which designated certain commonly owned semiautomatic firearms as contraband and required the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to seize them from their owners.

The bill, HB 731, was designed to target the most popular semiautomatic rifles–AR-15s, AK-47s, Ruger Mini 14s, etc.–declaring them illegal to possess, sale, transport, or distribute, and literally requiring they be taken from their owners. The bill was designed to throw “high capacity” magazine and .50 caliber rifles in with popular semiautomatics, treating them as contraband as well.

The language of HB 731 could not be clearer:

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 4 of Chapter 11 of Title 16 of the O.C.G.A., relating to dangerous instrumentalities and practices, so as to prohibit the possession, sale, transport, distribution, or use of certain assault weapons, large capacity magazines, armor-piercing bullets, and incendiary .50 caliber bullets; to provide for crimes involving the possession, sale, transport, distribution, or use of certain assault weapons, large capacity magazines, armor-piercing bullets, and incendiary .50 caliber bullets; to provide for criminal penalties; to designate certain weaponry and ammunition as contraband and to require seizure of such by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Ironically, Abrams is now running for Governor of Georgia. Her platform includes banning entire categories of firearms, yet she assures voters she does not plan to take away anyone’s guns.

In 2016 Abrams’ goal was to ban then seize the firearms that had been declared illegal to possess. She has not explained how she now plans to ban the possession of certain firearms yet allow Georgians to possess them.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.