Details

• Sponsor - King
• Proposed - March 8, 2005
• Congressional Record Link - HR1168
• Amends - Section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18 U.S.C. 922 note)
• Amendments - None.
• Votes - None.
• Results - No change in law.

Status

March 8, 2005 - Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

May 10, 2005 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

Synopsis

According to the Congressional Record:

Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to direct the Attorney General to prescribe regulations to ensure that the national instant criminal background check system (NICS) preserves all records with respect to the prospective receipt of a firearm by an individual whose name appears in the Violent Gang and Terrorist Organization File maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) until NICS has provided the records to the FBI where NICS is contacted by a licensee for information on whether receipt of a firearm by that individual would violate firearm possession provisions and the information available to NICS does not demonstrate that the receipt would be such a violation.

Analysis

There are four ways a person becomes prohibited under the law. The first is mental incapacity. The second is renouncing your citizenship. The third way is drug use. And the final way is by court proceeding. The existence of a name in the Violent Gang and Terrorist Organization File is not sufficient to prevent firearms transfer according to TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 44 > § 922.

Secondly, there is no prescription that records be destroyed. We already know that people end up on the 'no fly' list erroneously. Firearms purchases that get flagged may be perfectly legal, yet the federal government could start building a permanent database of firearms purchases.

And finally, from a purely practical standpoint, this bill does nothing to enhance police officer safety. Officers already assume that contacts may be armed and act accordingly. In addition, the legal transfer of firearms is not the method criminals use to acquire firearms.

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