Senate Judiciary Committee Likely to Vote(Thursday) on Bipartisan Gun Bill.(S54-Leahy+ 2 Rinos)

The Caucus ^ | 4 Mar 13 | JENNIFER STEINHAUER

[xzins]

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote Thursday on a bipartisan gun safety measure designed to curb illegal gun trafficking and purchasing.

The bill, which would toughen the penalties for those who purchase a gun illegally for others to up to 15 years and make gun trafficking a felony, has attracted the most bipartisan support so far of four measures headed for the committee.

The measure is a marriage of a gun-trafficking bill designed by Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the committee, and a similar bill that was being put together between Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, and Mark Steven Kirk, Republican of Illinois. It will be co-sponsored by Senators Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut.

Most significantly, the bill has received intense interest from Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, who has a strong rating from the National Rifle Association.

A proposal to reinstate an assault weapons ban, which would also ban certain high-capacity magazines, is unlikely to attract Republican votes and would have almost no chance of passing the full Senate, should it even get out of the committee.

“The absence of any federal law defining gun trafficking as a crime in this country is shocking,” Ms. Gillibrand said in a statement. She added: “By cracking down on straw purchasers, illegal gun traffickers and their vast criminal networks, we can stop the flow of illegal guns and reduce gun crime. I look forward to working with all of our colleagues on both side of the aisle to pass this important piece of legislation.”

[demshateGod]

Gifts are supposedly exempt.

I wonder if the bill is retroactive. Maybe that’s why Grassley likes it. Holder should go to prison for not more than 20 years.

[Yosemitest]

Senators Mark Steven Kirk, Republican of Illinois, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, should rethink their support.

[cb]

How this will work is this: If you buy and sell a gun, then you can be charged with gun trafficing and then you get the chance to prove you didn't have the intent!!

Bad! but not a single congress critter on our side has enough sense to see the consequences of giving the gubment power to intercede in gun transactions!

[Cheerio]

unless I can prove that I didn’t know the kid was doing oxycontin.

Good luck proving a negative !!

We have enough laws, it is time to disband the District of Corruption, or at least make the Congresscritters work from their home districts and states and only go to the corruption district a couple of times a session. THAT WILL MAKE THEM FEEL THE HEAT OF THEIR CONSTITUENTS BACK HOME. There is way too much mischief going on back there on the east coast when out of sight of the folk who put them there. The district turns them - almost 95% of all the go to work there.

[zeugma]

this is crap. we have enough laws. If they aren’t prosecuting the existing law, what do we need new ones for?

[xzins]

Depending on who is in power, it could be worse than that, demshateGod.

Any transaction could be questioned and then you’d have to prove that you weren’t breaking the law. Even if they didn’t fine or convict you, they could still cost you enormous amounts of time and legal fees.

[demshateGod]

It’s certainly intended to maximize their power and limit our freedom.

[xzins]

You are exactly right about that.