In case you missed it, Harry Reid’s gun control bill, also known as Senate Bill 649, has been released. You can read the entire bill here, and here’s a brief summary. The short version is that S. 649 is exactly what we thought it would be.Â

Bill Synopsis

Here is the bill synopsis, emphasis added:

To ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the national instant criminal background check system and require a background check for every firearm sale, and for other purposes.

And what, pray tell, are those “other purposes”?

Background Checks and Registration

In typical fashion, there’s quite a bit in this bill and it’s not exactly straightforward, but what most concerns me are the sections pertaining to background checks and registration.

Background checks will be required for nearly every firearm transfer with a few exclusions. This part is fairly straightforward, on the surface doesn’t seem too bad. However, once you dig a little deeper, you find the real problem, and that’s registration.

Section 122 Firearms Transfers, which details how transfers would be regulated, has this little gem, emphasis added:

(B) Regulations promulgated under this paragraph…(ii) shall include a provision requiring a record of transaction of any transfer that occurred between an unlicensed transferor and unlicensed transferee accordance with paragraph (1).

This is bad news folks. If you think that this bill isn’t registration without coming out and explicitly saying it, you’re not paying attention. Even though Senator Paul has promised to filibuster this bill, we can’t rely on that alone. Contact your Senators today and tell them to oppose S. 649.