The Daily Caller has gotten their hands on the document that AG Barr and the White House are discussing with Republicans on Capitol Hill regarding potential gun control legislation.

Many are saying this is basically the Manchin-Toomey Senate bill.

Read the document below:









Here’s what The DC says about the meetings in which AG Barr and a White House official discussed this document with Republicans:

“Consistent with the Manchin-Toomey draft legislation, a background-check requirement would be extended to all advertised commercial sales, including sales at gun shows,” the handout reads. “Background checks would be conducted either through a [Federal Firearm Licensee] or through a newly-created class of licensed transfer agents.” Attorney General Bill Barr and White House Legislative Affairs Director Eric Ueland were both present at the Tuesday meetings, which took place on the Hill and included North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, and Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley. One source familiar with the meetings said that Barr pitched the legislation by warning that a lack of action could electrify the Democratic base prior to the 2020 election. Barr also did not consider the background check legislation a gun control measure, instead painting it as a tool to assist law enforcement in cracking down on gun smugglers, the source explained. Another person familiar described the efforts to get Republicans on board as superficial, noting that there was no draft text or other follow-up action promised to them after the meeting. While all gun sales through federally licensed dealers currently require background checks, private sales do not. The Manchin-Toomey legislation would ensure that any advertised gun sales through an unlicensed dealer would be subject to a background check. It would not apply to sales between family or friends or to loans, provided the firearms are not first advertised elsewhere. The legislation would not address straw purchases, which account for nearly half of all illegally trafficked firearms, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

I’ve bought several guns myself and I’ve never seen the opportunity to buy a gun from someone who isn’t licensed to sell them. What are these dastardly commercial sales that they want to regulate? Is it when a gun owner brings their own personal gun collection to a gun show and sells them to people?

The White House can’t be talking about the licensed sales that go on at a gun show, because they are already subject to federal background checks. They must be referring to someone selling their private collection. Note that the DC says these new background checks “would not apply to sales between family or friends”.

So it sounds like Trump and Barr are also attacking the so-called ‘gun show loophole’, which is Democrats have been wanting forever. This won’t end well for Trump, if true.

Since this document has been leaked to the media, the White House has told a reporter from The Atlantic that Trump hasn’t signed off on this yet:

An update from the White House: Hogan Gidley tells me that just because WH legislative director Eric Ueland is among those pushing this on the Hill, it does NOT mean Trump himself has signed off on it. “Not even close.”

Why would the White House be pushing something in Congress that Trump might yet still reject? That doesn’t make a lot of sense to be honest. Maybe Barr and Ueland are ‘poll testing’ this idea among Republicans to see what they can and can’t get, but my guess is that Trump is at least tacitly supporting the idea or it would be a no-go.