A bicameral measure introduced in Congress last week, should it become law in its current form, could ban many common forms of modern shooting sports activities.
Entitled the "Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act" by its Democrat co-sponsors, U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey (Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD), the bill was introduced on the anniversary of J6 and aims to prohibit, at the federal level, "paramilitary groups" through a blend of civil and criminal enforcement.
The 10-page bill paints a sweeping five-part definition of just what could constitute "Unauthorized Private Paramilitary Activity" to include "publicly patrolling, drilling, or engaging in harmful or deadly paramilitary techniques," something fuzzy enough to cover just about any training class in a modern shooting technique, service rifle/DCM competition match or practice, or 3-Gun competition. This is because the bill also describes a semi-automatic firearm capable of using a "large capacity ammunition feeding device" (magazine) able to hold more than 10 cartridges as a "dangerous weapon."
While the measure's sponsors cite groups such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys as the reason for its proposal, for the sake of the bill's language, a "private paramilitary organization" would be any group of three or more people under some sort of command structure "training to function in public as a combat, combat support, law enforcement, or security services unit."
Such broad language could, for instance, apply to something as innocent as a prepper group, a gun club with elected officers, volunteer backcountry search and rescue groups who carry firearms for defense against predators, or even a local sheriff's posse or auxiliary police unit as exceptions for such organizations are only allowed for groups organized by state and federal governments.
"Our legislation makes the obvious but essential clarification that these domestic extremists’ paramilitary operations are in no way protected by our Constitution," said Raskin.
The only recognized exceptions would be for historical military reenactment groups, some veterans’ organizations, ROTC groups, and the military/National Guard. Curiously, it also has an exception for the "unorganized militia" which by law already includes every able-bodied man of at least 17 and under 45 years of age, who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia – a category that would seem to largely invalidate the rest of the bill.
Meanwhile, some other conduct that would be regulated by the bill includes a tranche of behavior such as violating someone's constitutional rights, interrupting government proceedings, false imprisonment, and impersonating a law enforcement officer – which are already crimes at almost jurisdictional level, further bringing into question the reason for the measure.
One pro-gun advocacy group weighed in on the possible motives behind the move.
"They know they cannot ban the ScARy guns, so now they want to ban training with them tactically," noted the pro-2A Firearms Policy Coalition on the Markey-Raskin bill. "They throw in these fear-mongering, third-rail descriptors to scare people away from voicing their opposition."
