Details

• Sponsor - Smith of Texas
• Proposed - March 16, 2006
• Congressional Record Link - HR5005
• Amends - None.
• Amendments - None.
• Vote - None yet.
• Results - No change in law.

Status

March 16, 2006 - Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

March 23, 2006 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

March 28, 2006 - Judiciary Committee hearing on H.R.5005.

May 11, 2006 - Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.

May 18, 2006 - Passed back to the full Judiciary Committee without amendment.

July 26, 2006 - Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled. No work done.

September 7, 2006 - The Judiciary Committee held a markup session which may have amended H.R.5005 with a Lautenberg Amendment like section relating to sex offenders involving juveniles.

September 13, 2006 - The bill was passed out of the Judicary Committee by a vote of 21-11. We are still trying to find out what the amendments are. There are now 131 cosponsors.

Synopsis

In the short term, the bill allows the importation of ANY firearm parts (including barrels, frames and recievers) so long as they will be used for repair or replacement. This includes firearm parts for firearms that are no longer importable.

Most of the remainder of the bill makes permanent situations that had been enacted in appropriations bills in previous years. Those situations include:

• a ban on taxes or 'user fees' for the NICS system.
• a ban on the creation of a federal, computerized index of dealer's 4473's.
• limits on trace records disclosures

Beyond all that, there are some provisions for manufacturers and government contractors and the repeal of the Youth Handgun Safety Act.

Rep. Smith's office provided their summary of H.R.5005: hr5005.pdf.

Analysis

There is no question that this bill is not earth shattering. But, making law permanant that has been passed for years in appropriations bills is a good thing. In future years, gun control advocates would need to change the laws instead of just changing appropriations bills they are already working on.

Section 3 allows government contractors (individuals) working in secuirty to purchase post-86 machine guns.

Gun Law News understands this provision, but we disagree with it. The Hughes Amendment to FOPA86 is the first outright ban on any gun in US law. Instead of including Sec. 3, the Hughes Amendment should be repealed.

'SEC. 10. BARREL AND RECEIVER IMPORTATION' forces the BATFE to allow importation of firearm parts they currently disallow. The BATFE would no longer be able to decide unilaterally that would not allow importation of certain parts.

Any amendment related to sex offenders becoming prohibited persons is seen with grave concern. Any offense justifying the loss of rights should have justitfied greater than one year in jail and the person would already be prohibited.

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