Details

• Sponsor - Gutierrez
• Proposed - January 21, 1997
• Congressional Record Link - HR476
• Amends - Title 18, United States Code
• Amendments - None.
• Votes - None taken.
• Results - No change in law.

Synopsis

From the Congressional Record:

Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit the possession or transfer of a non-sporting handgun which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, except with respect to the continuous and otherwise lawful possession of such handgun during any period that began before the effective date of this provision.

Analysis

This bill is the gun grabbers dream. When they say they do not want to ban all guns, point to this bill as a smoking gun.

First and foremost, this bill failed to recognize that the Second Amendment has nothing to do with 'sporting' firearms. The entire premise of this bill was false.

Second, the definition of a 'sporting handgun' was:

`(B) The term `sporting handgun' means a firearm which--

`(i) is designed to be fired by the use of a single hand; and

`(ii) the Secretary has determined, using the criteria applied in making determinations under section 925(d)(3), to be of a type generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.'.

 At this point the term 'Secretary' is unclear. Section 921 only refers to the Secretary of the Army way up in the definitions list. Perhaps it was clearer in the 1997 version of 921. In any case, our Second Amendment rights would have been defined and limited by a political appointee.

Third, legally owned handguns could be continued to be owned. But, it would have been illegal to transfer them. So, you could not sell them, or even pass them down to one of your children.

So, this bill does everything short of telling you to take your handguns down to the police station.

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