Charles Schumer had been in talks with Tom Coburn to introduce S. 374, also known as the “Protecting Responsible Gun Sellers” Act.

Those talks fell through, and Schumer chose to forge ahead with his own version, now entitled the “Fix Gun Checks” Act. If that sounds familiar, it’s the same bill he introduced last year, which was read on the floor but died in committee.

As I mentioned last week, we didn’t have the text of the bill because it was being written in committee. Now we do [pdf]. It passed as an amendment by a 10-8 margin, with the vote being along purely partisan lines.

Read on for a synopsis.

The meat of the bill begins on page 11:

Beginning on the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, it shall be unlawful for any person who is not licensed under this chapter to transfer a firearm to any other person who is not licensed under this chapter, unless a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer has first taken possession of the firearm for the purpose of complying with subsection (s).

Exemptions are made for the following:

gifts (but not loans) between spouses, between parents and their children, between siblings, or between grandparents and their grandchildren



a transfer made from a decedent’s estate, pursuant to a legal will or the operation of law

a temporary transfer of possession, as long as the actual transfer occurs within the home of the owner, is not removed from the owner’s home, and lasts less than 7 days

if the transfer occurs at a shooting range, but the firearm remains at the range

if the gun is being lent for hunting purposes during hunting season and the transferee is duly licensed

A “transfer” is defined as “a sale, gift, loan, return from pawn or consignment, or other disposition.” Here’s the problem: how does law enforcement know that a transfer took place under one of the exceptions? For that matter, how would they know whether a background check was performed on a non-exempt transaction?

The only answer I can see is a total registry of firearms. Nothing less.

In addition, failure to report the theft or loss of a firearm within 24 hours would be a felony. There’s also an odd bit that the Attorney General “shall include a provision setting a maximum fee that may be charged by licensees for services.”

And the cost for this? An estimated $100 million/year.

You need to get in touch with your Senators. That goes double if they support this. While its chances in the House are slim, I wouldn’t leave anything to chance at this point.