Wednesday, April 10, 2013

While it's early to make confident pronouncements...

...what I've heard thus far about the Senate compromise background check bill is... interesting.

Apparently it would, from the rumors I've gleaned thus far, require background checks for internet firearms sales and for firearms sales at gun shows, with transfers between private parties exempted.

I would talk further on my feelings about these matters, but instead I'll defer to the little Corsican.

Remember, these people legislate on medicine, finance, agriculture, energy production, manufacturing, reproductive issues, and a host of other matters on which they are no doubt as well informed as they so evidently are on firearms and current firearms law. Makes you feel all safe and cozy, doesn't it?

(Also, for those who missed this particular Schoolhouse Rock, the compromise Senate version would have to get watered down further get jived with a House version. I am as cautiously optimistic as I've been so far this year...)

34 comments:

Angus McThag said...

Is it Congress?

Is it something that matters to you?

Then you're going to get screwed. Look up what congress means some time.

Erin Palette said...

Since the opposite of "pro" is "con", congress is naturally the opposite of progress...

Tasso said...

How could you possibly manage to make a private sale without using the internet? Text messages, cell phone calls, home phone calls, email -- all IP based. I don't see how they could write this so that it wasn't a cornucopia of gotchas waiting for selective prosecution.

So you sold your gun to your shootin buddy? Have you ever sent a text message to him? 10 years in Federal Pen.

I don't feel confident. I feel a noose tightening.

Rick C said...

"require background checks for internet firearms sales and for firearms sales at gun shows, with transfers between private parties exempted."

I don't understand how that's different from today.

Tam said...

Rick C,

Shh!

K said...

The lefties see guns = smoking. Something that people need to be saved from but they don't want to give up. Answer? Continually harass them with tighter and tighter controls until it's not worth the effort or too expensive to get involved with or maintain.

Tam said...

I'd sure hate if I had to do a background check if I bought a gun from an FFL at a gun show. That'd slam the gun show loophole closed right in my face. :(

Goober said...

Tasso;
private sales are exempt regardless of venue- including internet sales. Read what rick wrote in the comment above mine. His analysis is spot on.

Scott J said...

Karl Denninger mentions much badness but his Thomas link is broken and I don't know the bill number to verify for myself http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=219649

Turk Turon said...

WHAT? No more unpapered sales from FFLs at gun shows!? Damn that Bloomberg and his billions of dollars! Now, what's up with nationwide reciprocity?

Anonymous said...

I still worry about what they might get up to with definitions of mental fitness to own firearms. That plays right into one of their strengths, which is gummint monopoly of health care. The devil is in the sub-paragraphs. I hope that I am wrong.

Mike James

Joe said...

Wrong guys. Toomey's site:
http://www.toomey.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=965

>Family transfers and some private sales (friends, neighbors, other individuals) are exempt from background checks

SOME private sales. You'll have to go to an FFL any time you find something you like on Armslist.

Tam said...

Wrong Joe. That's not the text of the bill. Who are "other individuals"? NRA rep came out of meetings saying private sales at shows exempted.

How about we wait for the text of the bill before we talk like losers?

Scott J said...

Link to actual text of bill: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113s649pcs/pdf/BILLS-113s649pcs.pdf

Federal crime to fail to report theft of your gun within 24 hours you discover it's missing.

og said...

"Federal crime to fail to report theft of your gun within 24 hours you discover it's missing."

If you know where all your guns are, you probably aren't a serious gun nut.

Tam said...

Scott J,

Unless I'm misreading it, that is the old text before the amendment which changed a lot of things. Was that one of them? Do you know?

Tam said...

(I had heard it was, but the internet gun cow exhaust speculation machine is cranked to eleven by now. ;) )

Scott J said...

I don't, Tam. I didn't find Karl's post until I got home from work and had to pester him on Facebook to get the bill number.

I pulled the GPO link right before posting it here.

I'll keep poking around Thomas.loc.gov until I get to the end of "Stripes" :)

Scott J said...

Searching at Thomas for bill number S649 I find the one I linked to but no ammendments for it.

It does have the carve out on transfers for gifts to family members or temporary transfers such as lending a hunting or competition arm to a guest but all other transfers require a check.

Scott J said...

If this thing does go through I might have to cut my plan for a .44 in my 44th year and do a couple of private transfers I've been considering.

One is a S&W Model 15 with the sweetest trigger I've felt on any Smith in the 20+ years I've been a fan of their revolvers.

The other is a PX4 Storm in .40 to have an excuse to use all the brass I find when scrounging for .45.

Tam said...

Scott J,

"Searching at Thomas for bill number S649 I find the one I linked to but no ammendments for it."

Exactly. The Amendment apparently changed a lot of things. The original text is next to useless until we get the text of the amendment (and not the spin-dizzy arglebargle on Toomey's site.)

Scott J said...

So, there's an amendment we haven't seen?

Maybe it will be there in the AM but for now I must sleep so I can survive another day in the cube farm tomorrow.

Tam said...

Scott J,

Yup, that's what all the fuss has been about today. Toomey-Mancin?

Anonymous said...

You'll see the full text 5 days after obama signs it. What? You want to hold congress accountable? How else are they gonna stealthly change the language so passengers on amtrak get locked into boxes?

Steve Skubinna said...

Finally, somebody has the guts to close the Gun Show Loophole! Take that, NRA! Now the terrorists won't be able to load up on rocket launchers at the swap meet!

Has it occurred to these critters that maybe they could pass a law or something that says it's prohibited to do something illegal with a firearm? Wouldn't that take care of everything?

Jim said...

The site Joe notes is the closest I can come to a text -- which it isn't -- of the Toomey/Manchin accord. I suspect the final draft may not be completed until the sun rises over the Capitol.

The Boehner reaction is interesting -- "we'll see what (the Senate) passes." It's pretty noncommittal for a guy trying to accommodate a Tea Party presence in his caucus.

Mikey said...

To this day, the only way I can successfully recite the Preamble to the Constitution is to the Schoolhouse Rock tune.

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

I'll be happier when I actually have the text available to assess.

However, I will note that the linked story does not actually say transfers between private parties would be exempted from the background check requirement, it says private citizens would be exempted from the record keeping requirement.

That's a fake exemption. If a prosecutor can get the guy who ended up with your gun to say you sold it to him without a background check, you bloody well better have a record saying you did one if you want to stay out of jail.

staghounds said...

Wouldn't that be "jibed"?

Tam said...

If we were discussing something other than legislation, then yes.

staghounds said...

ISWYDT.

Firehand said...

Just read this at OGAM:
Toomey and Manchin will claim that their bill only covers “gun show sales” and Internet sales. But if you’ve ever talked about your gun and /or let it be known you’d like to sell or buy a gun on the Internet, this language covers you. If you advertise your gun in the church bulletin and the bulletin is put on the Internet, you’re covered.
and
And for those Republicans who think they’re going to be able to offer their useless amendments, guess what? Reid is reportedly going to use a procedure to block out all amendments (called an “amendment tree”). And there are plenty of Senators standing in line to make sure that the Senate doesn’t give “unanimous consent” to let those Republicans offer their amendments.
and
But that’s not the worst part. Under an amendment in the bill to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), you could have your guns taken away because your private shrink thinks you’re “dangerous” and could send your name directly to the FBI Instant Check system.
That's on their site as of today.
http://onlygunsandmoney.blogspot.com/2013/04/goa-to-manchin-and-toomey-hell-no.html

.45ACP+P said...

And here I was thinking your Cosican comment would be "Never ascribe to malice that which can best be explained by incompetence". How did we ever get so many Nevil Chamberlains?

Ken said...

We voted, and the Government got in.