AG Barr took an “idea sheet” to Congress to test the waters on background checks. The idea was similar to the rejected 2013 Manchin-Toomey bill. The White House has not taken ownership of Barr’s idea.
The “idea sheet” had these thoughts:
Idea Sheet from WH and DOJ … by The Daily Caller on Scribd
The idea sheet includes a new class of licenses, outside of the standard FFL, for “transfer agents.” In other words, if there is no FFL involved in a gun transfer, you’d have to have one of those licenses in order to sell a gun that was advertised. AG Barr was floating the possibilities to members of Congress to see if they would support it. We hope they will not.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The Daily Caller reported,
One source familiar with the meetings said that Barr pitched the legislation by warning that a lack of action could electrify the Democratic base prior to the 2020 election. Barr also did not consider the background check legislation a gun control measure, instead painting it as a tool to assist law enforcement in cracking down on gun smugglers, the source explained.
Another person familiar described the efforts to get Republicans on board as superficial, noting that there was no draft text or other follow-up action promised to them after the meeting.
While all gun sales through federally licensed dealers currently require background checks, private sales do not. The Manchin-Toomey legislation would ensure that any advertised gun sales through an unlicensed dealer would be subject to a background check. It would not apply to sales between family or friends or to loans, provided the firearms are not first advertised elsewhere.
It is alleged by the Gun Owners of America that the bill would in fact target virtually every firearms transaction because of the way it is worded. They recommend that citizens contact their reps and senators to stop the AG Barr idea in its tracks.
In a study published last year, researchers looked at what happened after Colorado, Delaware, and Washington expanded their background check requirements. They reported that “background check rates increased in Delaware, by 22%–34% depending on the type of firearm,” but “no overall changes were observed in Washington and Colorado.” It is hard to see how the federal government can do any better, since it does not know who owns which guns and cannot possibly monitor unrecorded private transfers.
As we have stated before, many of the mass shooters have had no prior record to stop them from buying a gun. As Parkland father Andrew Pollack stated, the fault lies with policies that do not properly handle students who act out because Democrats want to “stop the pipeline to prison.” Flawed logic, in other words.
Most criminal elements do not purchase their guns at a gun store or federally licensed dealer- they easily evade the laws by theft, straw purchases, or the black market. “Background checks” target law abiding gun owners, not criminals. Enforcement of a “universal background check” would be virtually impossible, even with the ATF penchant for creating their own databases.
President Trump stated after the recent mass shootings that he could support background checks, but lately he has backed away from them, according to Breitbart. A meeting with Pelosi and Schumer didn’t end in any answers. The president said that any consensus on gun control was moving “very slowly.” That’s because Democrats really do want to take your guns, and Republicans flip flop on legislation.
H/T Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children
Related:
- Universal Background Checks No Longer on the Table?
- Trump wants ‘meaningful background checks,’ but what is that?
- Democrats introduce measure requiring background checks on ammunition sales
- No background checks: Criminals don’t buy guns, they steal them
- Gun-related background checks stay near record levels
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