President Donald Trump plans to veto a pair of Democratic-led gun control bills currently circulating the House. The bills, H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Check Bill of 2019, and H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019, are anti-gunner's latest push to turn law-abiding citizens into criminals.
One point of contention for the Trump administration is criminalizing private gun sales:
H.R. 8 would require that certain transfers, loans, gifts, and sales of firearms be processed by a federally licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer of firearms. H.R. 8 would therefore impose permanent record-keeping requirements and limitless fees on these every day transactions. H.R. 8 contains very narrow exemptions from these requirements, and there exemptions would not sufficiently protect the Second Amendment right of individuals to keep and bear arms.
One of the examples Republicans have continually talked about are domestic violence situations. If I have a friend who comes to me and says her boyfriend is beating her and she fears for her life, I would be turned into a criminal if I allowed her to borrow my firearm without a background check at an FFL. I could face up to $100,000 fine and one year in prison, simply for helping a law-abiding friend in a dangerous situation.
H.R. 1112 is a disaster in itself. These are the steps a person would have to go through if their background check wasn't approved right away:
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1) Fill out a 4473 to undergo a NICS check.
2) FFL comes back and tells the buyer he or she has to wait 10 days to get the results back from the feds.
3) If the feds fail to get the check back in 10 days the buyer can file a petition to proceed with the transfer.
4) The FFL would have to wait an additional 10 days after the petition is filed in order to proceed with the transfer.
The problem with these steps: background checks are only valid 30 calendar days after the FFL initiated them, so the very first day the buyer attempted to purchase the gun. A buyer would have to initiate the petition process almost immediately in order to make sure they receive an answer before the 30 day mark.
Here is the full Statement of Administration Policy:
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