Have you shot your AK’s barrel completely smooth? Is your third-hand TEC-9 worn out? Did you want to upgrade your bargain basement AR-15 to a bomb-proof precision rifle with all the upgrades?

Have House Democrats got a deal for you!

Simply turn in your junker “assault weapon” or brand-new $45 AR-15 lower and get up to a $2,000 tax credit towards a newer, better firearm!

Gun owners would receive tax breaks for voluntarily turning in high-powered assault rifles under new legislation proposed Monday. The Support Assault Firearm Elimination and Education of our (SAFER) Streets Act expected to be reintroduced next week by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) would provide gun owners with an incentive to turn in their firearms to local police departments. “Assault weapons are not about hunting, or even self-defense,” DeLauro said. “There is no reason on earth, other than to kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible, that anyone needs a gun designed for a battlefield.” Though DeLauro is in favor of stronger guns laws that would completely ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, she emphasized this bill would not force gun owners to turn in their firearms. The legislation would provide up to $2,000 in tax credits for gun owners who voluntarily hand over assault weapons to their local police departments.

Rep. DeLauro (D-Vulcan) and the handful of Democrats who support her in the House apparently have given little though as to how gun owners might use such an act to their advantage.

Under the Support Assault Firearm Elimination and Education of our (SAFER) Streets Act, you can buy a polymer AR-15 lower receiver for less than $45, and trade that in (you do NOT have to turn in an operational firearm under the language of the bill) for up to a $2,000 tax credit (refund) that you can spend in any way you desire.

Will you go for that shiny new Rifle Dynamics or Krebs Custom AK that you always wanted, but could never afford? How about a Noveske, BCM, or Colt AR-15? Personally, I’d be torn between spending my tax credit on a Tavor SAR now, or waiting a year and saving the money to buy a really nice precision rifle that I can glass with a sweet Steiner 5-25×56 in just two more years, thanks to John Q. Taxpayer.

Now, is it morally repulsive to turn turn in “guns” to be destroyed under SAFER as it has been proposed?

Yes and no.

If you turned in actual functional firearms, yes, that would be morally repulsive. If you’re turning in shot-out junkers that are beyond salvaging, or decide to follow my path and simply turn over store-bought, brand-new AR-15 lower receivers, you’re actually recycling.

On the other hand, you’re taking advantage of yet another government boondoggle that wastes a tremendous amount of taxpayer money on a hare-brained scheme cooked up by hate-filled, anti-gun, fiscally-irresponsible Democrats.

I’d be more upset over the plot to waste taxpayer dollars, if I wasn’t flipping through gun catalogs, trying to figure out what I want to buy…

Unfortunately, the bill has zero chance of passing a Republican Congress thanks to the bill’s stated intent, nor do I think I can get House Democrats to re-market the bill as the upgrade program it turned out to be.