Posted on 06/14/2007 6:26:51 AM PDT by OrthodoxPresbyterian
House approves stiffer gun background checks
By Joel Havemann, Los Angeles Times June 14, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The House yesterday passed what could become the first significant gun legislation in a decade, directing states to streamline the system for keeping track of criminals, mental patients, and others barred from buying firearms. The legislation also provides $250 million a year for the central database and grants to states to contribute to it.
The bill, which was passed by voice vote, was the product of rare cooperation between gun-control advocates and the National Rifle Association. It is intended to address problems highlighted by the mass shooting at Virginia Tech by a student with a history of mental health problems....
"The focus of discussions related to gun policy was on increasing the effectiveness of current federal firearms regulation, which is limited by divergent state practices," said the report, prepared by the departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, and Education.
For example, the report noted that only 23 states currently provide information to the FBI on people who, under federal law, cannot buy a gun because of mental health issues.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that the president "very much" supports the goals of the House bill, but that his aides have some concerns about its $250 million annual price tag.
The House acted after a parade of legislators from both parties praised the legislation.
Only Representative Ron Paul, Republican of Texas, spoke out against the bill, calling it "flagrantly unconstitutional" and saying it undermines the Second Amendment right to bear arms and violates privacy rights of those whose medical records go into the FBI database....
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
On Saturday, The Washington Post reported [ see http://tinyurl.com/23cgqn ] that both the Democrats and the NRA leadership had reached a "deal" on legislation similar to the McCarthy bill. This "deal" involves a new bill that has been introduced by Rep. McCarthy (HR 2640) -- a bill that has not yet been posted on the Thomas legislative service. While all the legislative particulars are not yet available, one thing is clear: it is, as reported by the Post, a deal with Democrats. And it involves legislation introduced by the most anti-gun member of the House, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY).
The Post says that, under the new language, the federal government would pay (that is, spend taxpayers' money) to help the states send more names of individual Americans to the FBI for inclusion in the background check system. If a state fails to do this, then the feds could cut various law enforcement grants to that state. In essence, this is a restatement of what the original McCarthy bill does. The states will be bribed (again, with your money) to send more names, many of them innocent gun owners, to the FBI in West Virginia -- and perhaps lots of other personal information on you as well.
Under the terms of this compromise, the Post says, "individuals with minor infractions in their pasts could petition their states to have their names removed from the federal database, and about 83,000 military veterans, put into the system by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2000 for alleged mental health reasons, would have a chance to clean their records."
Oh really? The Brady law already contains a procedure for cleaning up records. But it hasn't worked for the 83,000 veterans that are currently prohibited from buying guns. Gun Owners of America is aware of many people who have tried to invoke this procedure in the Brady Law, only to get the run around -- and a form letter -- from the FBI. The simple truth is that the FBI and the BATFE think the 83,000 veterans, and many other law-abiding Americans, should be in the NICS system.
After all, that's what federal regulations decree. Unless these regs are changed, Congress can create as many redundant procedures for cleaning up these records as it wants, but the bottom line is, there is nothing that will force the FBI to scrub gun owners' name from the NICS system.
Not only that, there is a Schumer amendment in federal law which prevents the BATFE from restoring the rights of individuals who are barred from purchasing firearms. If that amendment is not repealed, then it doesn't matter if your state stops sending your name for inclusion in the FBI's NICS system... you are still going to be a disqualified purchaser when you try to buy a gun.
Moreover, will gun owners who are currently being denied the ability to purchase firearms -- such as the military veterans who have suffered from post-traumatic stress -- be recompensed in any way for their efforts to "clean their records"? They will, no doubt, have to spend thousands of dollars going to a shrink for a positive recommendation, for hiring lawyers to take their case to court, etc.
And this is not to mention the fact that this procedure turns our whole legal system on its head. Americans are presumed innocent until PROVEN guilty. But these brave souls, who risked their lives defending our country, were denied the right to bear arms because of a mental illness "loophole" in the law. Their names were added to the prohibited purchasers' list in West Virginia without any due process, without any trial by jury... no, their names were just added by executive fiat. They were unilaterally, and unconstitutionally, added into the NICS system by the Clinton administration. And now the burden of proof is ON THEM to prove their innocence. Isn't that backwards?
And so, boys and girls, the moral of the story is this: When the State of Virginia fails to adequately enforce existing gun laws, then All of Congress immediately decides that, obviously, the only solution is for the Federal government to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on a massively-expanded Federal database incorporating the legal records and private medical records of hundreds of thousands of American citizens. BUT DON'T WORRY if your name happens to get on the Disqualified Purchaser list by mistake (not that the Federal Government ever makes mistakes, that is); you can just spend thousands of dollars on psychiatric and legal fees overcoming the "Guilty until Proven Innocent" presumption and then maybe -- maybe -- your name and private information might be purged from the Federal Database.
Well, all of Congress feels that way -- with one exception. His name is Ron Paul.
Ron Paul is the ONLY Republican Presidential Candidate to have an A+ Rating from the Gun Owners of America.
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I'm voting for former Vietnam Combat Flight Surgeon, and Leader of Ronald Reagan's Electoral Delegation from Texas: In 2008, I'm Voting for RON PAUL! |
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This bill passed with a voice vote. It is hard to say if Ron Paul was the only representative opposed to it.
Without regard to the merits of this law, it is dishonest of the pols and media to suggest that this law would have stopped the VA shooter.
He’s on record as the only Representative who opposed the Bill.
Carolyn
What is the legitimacy of a voice vote anyway? It sounds like a way for Congress to sneak more crap on top of us. This should go up for a real vote.
Beat me to it!
Without commenting on the merit of existing gun laws, had the State of Virginia simply enforced existing gun laws, they might have been able to prevent the VA shooter's handgun purchases (i.e., why does the STATE of Virginia have to have a FEDERAL Database to prevent a STATE Resident, Disqualified from purchasing firearms in that STATE, from purchasing firearms in that STATE? HUH?!)
It should, but when you have 434 "Aye" Votes and 1 "Nay" Vote, it's pretty easy for the Speaker to gavel the vote and say "Okay, the Ayes have it, now let's move on to getting this Amnesty bill passed..."
As the saying goes, 435 to Ron Paul.
i.e., why does the STATE of Virginia have to have a FEDERAL Database to prevent a STATE Resident, Disqualified from purchasing firearms in that STATE, from purchasing firearms in that STATE? HUH?!)
Because I live in one state and can see another state from my house. If MS declares me nuts and puts me in their database, I can just drive across that bridge there to Louisiana.
Is this just one more reason why I have not wanted to renew my NRA membership having tried four times, and each time the NRA manages to go totally off point and support anti-gunners and their laws.
Strange... whenever I've bought handguns, they've always inquired as to my State of Residence, and proof thereof.
We’re getting screwed by the NRA yet again.
Thank you, Ron Paul, for standing up for the Constitution, even when our rulers and “watchdog” groups like the NRA don’t.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Approximately 916,000 individuals were prohibited from purchasing a firearm for failing a background check between November 30, 1998, (the date the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) began operating) and December 31, 2004.
So how many of those 916,000 individuals were prosecuted, even arrested for lying on their form 4473?
Any single representative can call for a roll call vote.
I agree that voice votes are an anathema to a free republic.
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h2640ih.txt.pdf
Here’s the bill.
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