House Bills

H.R. 24 (Becerra): This bill would require any licensee transferring any firearm to test fire the firearm and provide ballistics records to the Attorney General. The Attorney General would then be required to compile the information in electronic form.

H.R. 54 (Crenshaw, Mica, Putnam, Oxley, Forbes, Kennedy (MN): This bill would authorize between $10,000,000 and $30,000,000 a year for various Project Exile-related expenditures, including sentencing enhancements involving firearms, while exempting similar crimes of violence committed with knives and similar implements.

H.R. 76 (Jackson-Lee): This bill would (1) expand to semiautos (and to young adults) the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 922(x) making it virtually impossible to legally teach your kids the safe and responsible use of firearms, expanding the penalties for violating that subsection to up to 10 years; (2) require that a gun purchaser purchase a trigger lock, irrespective of need; (3) effectively make it unlawful for a parent to keep a loaded firearm for self-defense (or an unloaded firearm with ammunition readily available); (4) require that a child attending a gun show be accompanied by a parent at all times, under penalty of law; and (5) authorize grants for "gun safety education programs."

H.R. 81 (Jackson-Lee): This bill would create a $100,000,000 funding program for "mental health services" for children. Among other things, it contains a finding that mental disorders contribute to "gun violence."

H.R. 124 (Holt): This bill would require the establishment of a system for the registration of every handgun possessed in the United States, unless a state in which a handgun is located also has a system of handgun registration in place. Any person possessing an unregistered handgun would be subject to a 15 year prison sentence.

H.R. 143 (Nadler): This bill would expand the semiauto import ban to cover (1) any firearm that has a thumb hole functioning as a pistol grip, (2) any firearm with a detachable large capacity magazine, (3) any firearm with a fixed magazine which can be readily modified to accept a large capacity magazine, and (4) any firearm that uses .22 caliber ammunition.

H.R. 144 (Nadler): This bill would treat a "barrel, stock, or any part of the action" of a firearm like a fully functioning firearm, for purposes of federal regulation.

H.R. 153 (Paul): This bill would (1) repeal the Brady Law, (2) repeal the semiauto ban, and (3) repeal the distinction discriminating against firearms not designed for "sporting purposes."

H.R. 193 (Hefley): This bill would make permanent the Smith Amendment, which prohibits the Brady Law from being used to create a gun tax or to impose a system of registration.

H.R. 211 (Towns): This bill would commission the Consumer Product Safety Commission to promulgate regulations which would ban any toy gun similar in size, shape, OR overall appearance to a handgun.

H.R. 218 (Cunningham, et al.): This bill would allow current and retired law enforcement personnel to carry firearms nationwide.

H.R. 221 (Wexler, Nadler, Moran): This bill would impose a national one-handgun-a-month limit. It would impose criminal penalties on a dealer if a jury found, after the fact, that he had "reasonable cause to believe" that the handgun he sold was not the first handgun which the purchaser acquired during that month.

H.R. 260 (Conyers et al.): This bill would require Instant Checks at gun shows. It would effectively outlaw gun shows by imposing criminal penalties up to five years (for the second offense) for gun show promoters who fail to notify every attendee at a gun show of his responsibilities under the Brady Law.

H.R. 276 (Goode): This bill would repeal the Lautenberg amendment, which prohibits gun ownership by a person convicted of a misdemeanor involving domestic "violence."

H.R. 291 (Kelly): This bill would double the prison sentences for carrying, brandishing, or using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence (loosely defined) or a drug trafficking offense.

H.R. 325 (Vitter): This bill would establish a 100% tax credit (limit: $1,500 a year) for a person purchasing a residential safe storage device for the storage of firearms.

H.R. 357 (Everett): This bill would prohibit a federal or state lawsuit against a gun manufacturer or seller for damages resulting from the criminal or unlawful use of the firearm by a third party.

H.R. 394 (Conyers et al.): This bill would allow lawsuits for "crimes of violence" motivated by gender, including, specifically, crimes committed with firearms.

H.R. 648 (Wilson): This bill would reaffirm the right of Americans to use firearms (1) for the defense of themselves and their families, (2) for defense against a violent felony, and (3) for defense of one's home.

H.R. 776 (Andrews, Eschoo): This bill would require every firearms manufacturer and importer to conduct ballistics tests on all firearms manufactured and imported -- and make the results available to the attorney general (BATFE) for a database which could be accessed by law enforcement agencies throughout the country. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Two related studies -- one by the California Department of Justice -- found that it would be impractical and "overwhelming" to catalog the ballistic fingerprints of every firearm in California.)

H.R. 821 (Langevin, et al.): This bill would prohibit the manufacture or importation of a pistol unless it: (1) incorporated a "plainly visible device in a contrasting color that clearly indicates whether the pistol is loaded," and (2) in the case of a semiautomatic pistol with a detachable magazine, incorporates a mechanism preventing the pistol from being fired when the magazine is not attached.

H.R. 899 (Nadler): This bill would outlaw the transfer of any handgun or "handgun ammunition" unless the recipient displays a valid state handgun license and undergoes a three-day waiting period, or submits a statement from state police that the recipient "requires access to a handgun because of a threat to [his] life...." After two years, a handgun license would be required for anyone POSSESSING a handgun or "handgun ammunition." A "handgun licensee" would be required to be fingerprinted and researched in "all available... recordkeeping systems" -- in addition to receiving a "safety certificate" for completing a state-supervised course of instruction and taking a state-graded examination. The license would expire after two years.

H.R. 900 (Nadler): This bill would increase state funding under section 506 of the 1968 crime act by 15% for any state which (1) requires handgun registration for anyone POSSESSING a handgun, and (2) requires a handgun transferee to have insurance.

H.R. 915 (Stearns): This bill would allow national concealed carry reciprocity for persons possessing a concealed carry license. It would not benefit states like Vermont that allow concealed carry without a license.

H.R. 936: (Miller of California, Pelosi, Lofgren and others): This is the Democratic education bill. It would:

expand the Instantcheck requirement to transactions at gun shows (section 11001);

make it unlawful for a licensee to transfer a firearm to a non-licensee without a safety lock (section 11101);

expand to semiautomatics the labyrinthine provisions making it effectively impossible to legally teach your kids the safe and responsible use of firearms (section 11201);

outlaw the importation of semiautomatic clips (section 11301);

require a firearms license for any person transferring more than 50 firearms in a year, (including sale of firearms from a personal collection in the definition of sales from a person's trade or business) -- and require licensees to operate from storefront-like "fixed premises" (section 11401);

establish elaborate federal requirements -- set by regulation -- for the storage of firearms by a licensee (section 11401);

make it easier to suspend a firearms license for any violation of any gun regulation, including recordkeeping mistakes (section 11401);

increase the difficulty of petitioning for relief from disabilities (section 11401);

authorize $90,000,000 to enhance the acquisition of records for the Instantcheck system (section 11401);

authorize $53,000,000 for more BATF agents (section 11401);

authorize $10,000,000 a year for local antigun campaigns (section 11401);

authorize $10,000,000 for development of "smart guns" (section 11401);

require ballistics testing, available to police, of all newly manufactured and imported firearms (section 11401);

require a study of "marketing practices of the firearms industry" (section 11501);

prohibit selling firearms by non-licensees over the Internet (section 11502);

impose a one-handgun-a-month limit (section 11503).

H.R. 990 (Hostettler, Hayworth, Davis (VA), Crane, Doolittle, Wamp, Otter, Gibbons, Lewis (KY), Ney, Cannon, Goode, Boucher, Souder, Peterson (PA), Goodlatte, Hall, Aderholt, English, Bishop (GA), Musgrave, Pence, Bradley (NH)): This bill would allow national concealed carry reciprocity, and is "Vermont-friendly."

H.R. 1036 (Stearns et al.): This bill would prohibit frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers, dealers, etc. It does contain two broad exceptions, which could be used as the grounds for a lawsuit: (1) "negligent entrustment" (defined as "supplying [a gun] for use by another person when the seller knows or should know the person to whom the product is supplied is likely to use the product, and in fact does use the product, in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical injury..."); and (2) "defect in design" (e.g., failure to include an organic trigger lock).

H.R. 1049 (Wilson (SC), Stearns): This bill would require the government to allow specially trained cargo pilots, in addition to commercial pilots, to carry firearms for the protection of themselves and their planes.

H.R. 1064 (Israel): This bill would authorize certain personnel of the Bureau of Prisons to carry firearms off-duty.

HR 1078 (Wicker): This bill would throw $25,000,000 at the left-wing history establishment to set up Presidential Academies for training teachers -- training that would almost certainly track the anti-gun curriculum which is now being taught in schools. Already, federally subsidized curricula in the schools have been chipping away at national sovereignty and the notion of God-given rights for several years. For example, We the People -- a federally subsidized textbook -- is so welded to a revisionist view, the Second Amendment isn't even mentioned in the section discussing which of the Bill of Rights are relevant today! And while the book does discuss the Second Amendment in a historical context, it does so in a way that causes the student to start questioning the wisdom of the amendment, by asking whether the right to keep and bear arms is still "important today" and prompting the student to decide what "limitations" should be placed on the right.

H.R. 1146 (Paul): This bill would:

repeal the acts authorizing U.S. participation in the United Nations, UNESCO, WHO, and other UN agencies, conventions, and agreements;

repeal the agreement authorizing the UN headquarters in New York, throw the UN out of government facilities, and revoke its diplomatic immunity;

prohibit U.S. appropriations from supporting UN operations or "peacekeeping" efforts.

The UN has been active in advocating gun control in member-states.

H.R. 1147 (Millender-McDonald, et al.): This bill would prohibit the transfer of a handgun without (1) a "locking device," and (2) a written warning intended to create an implicit legal prohibition on keeping a loaded gun for self-defense. It would give the attorney general (BATFE) comprehensive authority to regulate the design and manufacture of "locking devices."

H.R. 1171 (Andrews): This bill would authorize the Attorney General to award grants to states which use "iris scan" technology to screen persons wishing to purchase guns.

H.R. 1362: This bill would federally penalize various violent acts against children. Among the factors which would trigger the bill's penalties is the use of a firearm in connection with an offense.

H.R. 1434 (Rangel): This bill would create a special program allowing criminals, including felons, to expunge their records. No one who committed a violent offense would be eligible, and no one who committed a non-violent offense involving the "use of a weapon" would be eligible.

H.R. 1540 (Langevin et al.): This bill would:

allow BATF to conduct harassment inspections of firearms dealers three times a year;

significantly increase criminal penalties for gun recordkeeping offenses, while adding $10,000 per violation civil penalties for the most minor "willful" recordkeeping violations;

authorize $100,000,000 (in 2004) to hire 500 additional BATF agents.

H.R. 1731 (Carter, Schiff): This bill would create additional penalties for persons who use false identities for a variety of purposes, including terrorism or the purchase of a firearm.

H.R. 2038 (McCarthy et al.): This bill would:

make permanent and expand the semi-automatic ban and the ban on semi-automatic magazines;

dramatically expand the list of banned semi-automatics;

ban most unlisted semi-automatics if they have large detachable magazines;

ban all semi-automatic rifles and pistols with detachable magazines, if they possess only ONE of a list of additional characteristics (folding stock, threaded barrel, pistol grip, forward grip, barrel shroud);

ban all semi-automatic shotguns, if they possess only ONE of a list of additional characteristics (folding stock, pistol grip, detachable magazine, fixed magazine of over five rounds);

ban a broad range of semi-automatic frames and conversion kits;

ban any military or police semiautomatic rifle or shotgun, if it is "not particularly suitable for sporting purposes" -- with a statutory presumption that the firearm is NOT suitable for sporting purposes;

impose a semi-automatic magazine import ban, irrespective of whether the magazine was manufactured prior to 1994;

modify the semi-automatic grandfather clause to remove grandfather protection for (1) firearms specified in Appendix A, (2) semi-automatics that cannot accept detachable magazines holding more than five rounds, and (3) semi-automatic shotguns that cannot hold over five rounds;

outlaw private sales of grandfathered semi-automatics;

impose a ten year prison sentence for the transfer of an outlawed semi-automatic "with a large capacity ammunition feeding device";

modify the magazine grandfather clause to outlaw the possession of a prohibited semi-automatic magazine by a retired policeman who received the magazine as a gift upon retirement;

remove the government's burden of proof to demonstrate that a semi-automatic magazine is unlawful -- and replace it with a requirement that licensees register all grandfathered semi-automatic magazines or risk five years in prison;

add semi-automatics and semi-automatic magazines to the list of firearms covered by the labyrinthine provisions of 18 U.S.C. 922(x), which make it virtually impossible to legally teach your children the safe and responsible use of firearms.

H.R. 2275 (Van Hollen, McCarthy): This bill would repeal current appropriations restrictions limiting the requirement that firearms dealers provide information about firearms purchasers.

H.R. 2403 (Kennedy, Frank, Meehan, Norton, Langevin, Lantos, Solis, Towns, VanHollen): This bill would have the effect of outlawing firearms by allowing the Attorney General to comprehensively regulate them and authorizing frivolous lawsuits. In particular, it would:

allow the Attorney General to outlaw any or all guns if they "pos[e] an unreasonable risk of injury" or fail to comply with any regulation the Attorney General, in his discretion, may promulgate;

allow the Attorney General to conduct unlimited inspections of any place a firearm is "stored," based on "reason to believe" that a firearms regulation has been violated;

allow enforcement by civil penalties, injunctions, private lawsuits, and criminal penalties of up to two years in prison;

authorize and fund anti-gun research.

H.R. 2436 (Smith (Tex.), Scott (Va.), Scott (Ga.)): This bill would commission a study by the liberal anti-gun National Academy of Sciences concerning the desirability of, mechanism for, and cost of implementing a nationally mandated ballistic imaging system. This study, when it is issued, would presumably be used to give momentum to legislation to require ballistic imaging of all firearms.

There is a provision in the bill [section 3(a)(16)] which is intended to be a sop to pro-gun groups. It springs out of our continuing assertion that ballistic imaging will open the door to gun registration -- and, no doubt, this provision is intended to produce a finding (1) that ballistic imaging is not registration, or (2) that the defect can be cured in a specified manner.

H.R. 2493 (Norton): This bill would establish a $100,000,000 a year gun buyback program in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) -- with municipal applicants required to provide assurances that they will destroy the guns.

H.R. 2539 (Millender-McDonald): This bill would create a federal crime of committing a violent act against a child if, inter alia, a gun is used. It also would expand and authorize $50,000,000 for various federal programs extending federal jurisdiction into local responsibility for crimes against children.

H.R. 2555: This is the House version of the appropriations bill for the new cabinet department established to deal with terrorism. Among many other things, it funds efforts to search airline passengers for firearms and explosives -- and its large funding categories contain money for the program to certify airline pilots to carry firearms.

H.R. 2789: (Wilson (S.C.), Davis (Tenn.), Jenkins, Brown (S.C.), Norwood, Collins, McCotter, Cardoza, Myrick): This bill -- the Citizens' Self-Defense Act of 2003 -- would reaffirm your right to use a firearm for protection of yourself, your family, and your home.

H.R. 2799: This is the House version of the State/Justice/Commerce Appropriations Bill. Among many other things, it funds BATF.

H.R. 2872 (Hoeffel): This bill would subject antique firearms to all of the requirements applicable to other firearms.

H.R. 2906 (Renzi, Musgrave, Hostettler, Otter, Miller (Fla.), Goode, Franks (Ariz.), Paul, Sessions, Vitter, Bartlett (Md.), Hall): This bill would allow licensed dealers -- even though they are from different states -- to conduct face-to-face transfers of firearms to other licensed dealers away from their places of business.

H.R. 2946 (King (N.Y.), Meehan): This bill would impose a 20 year prison sentence on a person -- including a legitimate firearms dealer who:

transfers two or more handguns, semiautos, etc.,

IF EITHER (1) the purchaser, with or without the knowledge of the seller, is a straw man, OR (2) the firearm, with or without the knowledge of the seller, has been stolen.

In addition, the bill would expand sharing of firearms-related federal databases and would add five years to the sentence of a person who possesses a stolen or altered firearm in connection with a felony, including, for example, a federal firearm paperwork violation.

H.R. 3125 (Paul, Barrett, Bartlett, Duncan, Goode, Franks, Sessions, Feeney, Miller, Otter, Norwood): This bill would prohibit federal funds from being used to support UN agreements, treaties, conferences, or other actions which advocate the taxation of firearms or the abrogation of the Second Amendment.

H.R. 3193 (Souder et al.): This bill would repeal the D.C. gun ban.

H.R. 3237 (McCarthy): This bill would statutorily require states to provide all information to the FBI which is "relevant to a determination of whether a person is disqualified from possessing or receiving a firearm under subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of title 18, United States Code, or applicable State law". [Section 102 (c) (1) (A)]

There is certainly a possibility that section 102 (c) (1) (A) contains an implicit right to sue states for the information. In addition, after five years, failure to provide 90% of the information demanded by the FBI will result in a 10% reduction in funds under section 506 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3756), unless waived.

Finally, government agencies are required to provide similar information under section 101, including, for example, TSA records. This is particularly troubling, given TSA's access, under the CAPPS II program, to billions of individual financial and personal records (including, for instance, credit card records of book purchases).

What types of records will be required to be made available to the FBI?

Everyone assumes that means records concerning felonies, domestic misdemeanors, and restraining orders -- and it does.

But 18 U.S.C. 922 (g) and (n) contain categories as well:

Certainly, the most potentially far-reaching category is 18 U.S.C. 922 (g) (5), which prohibits gun ownership by a person who, "being an alien, is illegally or unlawfully in the United States".

Any database which might prove that an alien -- admitted lawfully into the U.S. -- has remained in the U.S. unlawfully -- potentially subject to the FBI's reach, particularly under an anti-gun administration. This information include:

federal and state tax returns;

employment and unemployment insurance information;

library card information.

18 U.S.C. 922 (g) (3) bars firearms transfers to any person who is "an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance." Presumably, this includes arrest records for marijuana possession and diversion and drug treatment records, to the extent that they can be accessed by the state.

In addition, 18 U.S.C. 922 (g) (4) prohibits gun ownership by any person who "has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution." H.R. 3237 and S. 1706 purport to establish "privacy protections" and other limits with respect to records in this category. But one wonders whether an anti-gun administration will eventually move IDEA children, for example, into this category.

In summary, this bill is an open-ended monstrosity which may -- particularly in the hands of a Clinton-like anti-gun administration -- be used to hand the FBI vast amounts of information about law-abiding Americans.

H.R. 3348: (Sensenbrenner): This proposal, which was signed into law, will extend the ban on plastic guns for ten years.

H.R. 3352 (Otter, Simpson, Conyers, Sanders, Kucinich, Paul, Frank of Massachusetts, Udall of New Mexico, Meeks of New York, Flake): This is the House counterpart to legislation -- introduced in the Senate by senator Larry Craig (R-ID) -- to adjust some of the more repressive aspects of post-9/11 legislation passed by Congress. It addresses, in part, criticisms leveled at earlier legislation by groups such as Gun Owners of America, and is supported by a liberal-conservative coalition on both sides of the aisle and the ideological spectrum. It would do the following:

With respect to "roving wiretaps" (i.e., wiretaps which are placed permanently on groups such as GOA merely because they are briefly visited by "terrorism" suspects), it would require the wiretaps be removed when the "terrorism" suspect left the premises.

It would limit the ability to search organizations like GOA -- without notifying the organizations -- to cases where there is danger to life or safety or a risk of flight.

It would extend broader privacy protections to libraries, and would limit certain searches under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to cases where the target is an agent of a foreign power.

It would limit the broad definition of "terrorism" to cases where the group is engaged in acts "dangerous to human life that constitute a federal crime of terrorism...."

It would expand the 2005 sunset provision of the post-9/11 legislation to controversial sections potentially allowing wiretaps of Second Amendment groups -- which are currently exempt from sunset.

H.R. 3411 (Emanuel et al.): This bill would impose a lifetime gun ban for an act committed by a juvenile which would be a felony if committed by an adult. Thus, if, under a "zero tolerance" policy, an eight-year-old is dragged into a juvenile court for participating in a playground brawl -- or if a six-year-old boy is found by a court to have brought a tiny "GI Joe" gun into a school under the same zero tolerance policy (and in violation of state law) -- both of those children would be reported to the FBI -- and would be forever barred from owning a firearm. Unlike a convicted murderer, the children would not be allowed to be pardoned or have their records expunged, because they were not technically convicted in the juvenile court.

H.R. 3449 (Norton): This bill would expend $1.15 billion in federal funds for assistance to (and interference with) local law enforcement efforts in schools. Among other things, it would create federally funded "school-based partnerships" to, inter alia, control "firearms... incidents" and would fund preparation of an annual report on "Gun-Free Schools" zones.

H.R. 3614 (King): This bill would require that the FBI-run Instantcheck system turn over records concerning any person on the "Violent Gang and Terrorist Organization File... to the Federal Bureau of Investigation" [sic].

H.R. 3807 (Gibbons et al.): This bill would establish a 90-day “amnesty” period for veterans (or family members) who acquired full automatics before October 31, 1968 –- while members of the armed forces abroad –- so that they could register those firearms. It would also temporarily prohibit the destruction of forfeited firearms and establish a program from them to be transferred to museums.

H.R. 3831 (Castle, McCarthy, Davis of Va., Shays, Johnson of Conn., Kirk, Quinn, Ros-Lehtinen): This bill would extend the semiauto ban for ten years.

H.R. 3832 (Castle, McCarthy, Quinn, Kirk, Johnson of Conn.): This bill would require gun show Instantchecks. Unlike more recent variants, it would still require the submission of the names of gun show participants to the Justice Department.

H.R. 4048 (Gingrey, Souder, Paul, Doolittle, Franks, Isakson, Davis, Wilson, Hostettler, Linder, Shuster, Hall, Ney, Kingston, Rogers): This bill would allow face-to-face transfers of all firearms from licensees to non-licensees of different states –- not just rifle and shotgun transactions, which are currently allowed.

H.R. 4100 (Miller (CA), Young (AK)): This bill would:

* establish a fund in the Treasury Department -- which will be treated like an entitlement -- which will consist of roughly $3.125 billion a year for twenty years;

* mandate annual disbursals from the fund (subject to availability) as follows:

$1 billion to Interior for payments to coastal states;
$900 million to the Land and Water Conservation Fund;
$350 million to the wildlife restoration fund;
$125 million for historic preservation;
$200 million for federal and Indian land enhancement;
$50 million to implement Imperiled Wildlife and Rare Plant Recovery Agreements; and
$350 million for "strengthening rural communities";

* in connection with the most potentially controversial expenditure -- the Land and Water Conservation Fund -- allocate funds for projects that "conserve open space and either conserve wildlife habitat, protect water quality, or otherwise enhance the environment, or that would protect areas that have historic or cultural value...";

* include CARA-type "private property protections" which (1) provide that no "private property [shall] be taken for public use, without just compensation as provided by the 5th and 14th amendments to the United States Constitution," and (2) require that land acquired by the federal portion of the program be "referred to" in a congressional appropriations report, and notice given to all affected politicians and be published in a newspaper.

The "private property protections" are, in all significant respects, comparable to those which were contained in CARA and which were found to be inadequate by most property-rights conservatives and many sportsmen's groups. Although compensation must be made for lands taken, it is interesting to note that "Federal agencies, using funds appropriated by this Act, may not apply any regulation on any lands or water until the lands or water, or an interest therein, is acquired." Thus, the bill is in effect an incentive for out-of-control bureaucrasies to grab private property FIRST, and regulate it later.

The desirability or undesirability of this bill depends largely on how one feels about have a continual funding source allowing the federal government to absorb more land-- land which would be subject to all the gun restrictions and other impositions applicable to federal land.

Future administrations in concert with radical environmentalist groups and the United Nations would have automatic access to a billion dollars per year with which to preserve lands they felt would benefit plants and animals or that would "conserve open space... or have historic or cultural value" -- a blanket authorization that could apply to just about any land in the United States. As these preservationists are more than generally unfriendly towards hunting and shooting, the lands could then be closed to those activities.

Senate Bills

S. 6 (Daschle): This bill would authorize guards at nuclear facilities to carry firearms and make arrests.

S. 22 (Daschle, Leahy, Biden, Kennedy, Schumer, Durbin, Clinton, Murray, Dayton, Corzine, Reed (RI)): This is the omnibus Democrat crime bill for the 108th Congress. It would:

require the states to turn over huge numbers of records to the FBI -- including, potentially, tax returns, unemployment insurance records, arrest records, and halfway house-type records -- in order to determine which Americans are prohibited from owning guns because they are, for example, illegal aliens or unlawful users of controlled substances;

require firearms manufacturers to conduct ballistics tests of firearms and to submit the results to the federal government;

authorize $150,000,000 in order to expand the Project Exile program -- a program which would, for example, target technical firearms violations, while ignoring violent crimes not involving firearms;

expand the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative;

impose a lifetime gun ban for, in some cases, relatively insignificant juvenile offenses -- offenses which may have resulted in dismissal had the juvenile been an adult represented by a lawyer;

require a dealer/FFL, whether or not he conducts a storefront business, to expend large amounts of money for "secure gun storage or safety devices;"

increase to five years the prison term for parents violating the hypertechnical provisions of 18 U.S.C. 922(x), which make it virtually impossible for a parent to legally teach his child the safe and responsible use of firearms;

increase penalties on other gun offenses involving juveniles;

create an across-the-board prohibition on "conspiring" to commit a federal gun offense;

require an Instantcheck for all gun-show transactions

and, in the process, effectively outlaw gun shows by imprisoning gun show promoters of they fail to notify EVERY attendee of his responsibilities under the Brady Law.

S. 217 (Boxer, Lautenberg): This bill would increase from one to five years the criminal penalties for gun dealers who "fail to properly maintain" any record required by BATFE.

S. 253 (Campbell, Leahy, Hatch, Reid, Graham, Schumer, Grassley, Dorgan, Kyl, Edwards, Sessions, Baucus, DeWine, Warner, et al.): This bill would allow current and retired law enforcement personnel to carry firearms nationwide.

S. 364 (Corzine): This bill would prohibit the Justice Department from taking any position before a court other than the position that the Second Amendment is not an individual right and does not protect the right of the people to keep and bear arms, only the right of the organized militia to do so.

S. 396 (Baucus, Grassley): This bill would exempt from the firearms excise tax any “small manufacturer” –- i.e., any manufacturer who imports, produces, or manufacturers fewer than 50 items a year.

S. 402 (Feingold): This bill would abolish the federal death penalty.

S. 429 (Feinstein, Kennedy, Schumer, Corzine, Lautenberg, Durbin, Levin): This bill would treat 50 caliber firearms like machine guns for the purpose of registration, taxation, etc.

S. 448: (Dodd, Kennedy, Dayton): This is the Democratic education bill. It would:

expand the Instantcheck requirement to transactions at gun shows (section 11001);

make it unlawful for a licensee to transfer a firearm to a non-licensee without a safety lock (section 11101);

expand to semiautomatics the labyrinthine provisions making it effectively impossible to legally teach your kids the safe and responsible use of firearms (section 11201);

outlaw the importation of semiautomatic clips (section 11301);

require a firearms license for any person transferring more than 50 firearms in a year, (including sale of firearms from a personal collection in the definition of sales from a person's trade or business) -- and require licensees to operate from storefront-like "fixed premises" (section 11401);

establish elaborate federal requirements -- set by regulation -- for the storage of firearms by a licensee (section 11401);

make it easier to suspend a firearms license for any violation of any gun regulation, including recordkeeping mistakes (section 11401);

increase the difficulty of petitioning for relief from disabilities (section 11401);

authorize $90,000,000 to enhance the acquisition of records for the Instantcheck system (section 11401);

authorize $53,000,000 for more BATF agents (section 11401);

authorize $10,000,000 a year for local antigun campaigns (section 11401);

authorize $10,000,000 for development of "smart guns" (section 11401);

require ballistics testing, available to police, of all newly manufactured and imported firearms (section 11401);

require a study of "marketing practices of the firearms industry" (section 11501);

prohibit selling firearms by non-licensees over the Internet (section 11502);

impose a one-handgun-a-month limit (section 11503).

S. 469 (Kohl, DeWine, Feinstein, Schumer, Reed, Mikulski, Corzine, Levin): This bill would require every firearms manufacturer and importer to conduct ballistics tests on all firearms manufactured and imported -- and make the results available to the attorney general (BATFE) for a database which could be accessed by law enforcement agencies throughout the country. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Two related studies -- one by the California Department of Justice -- found that it would be impractical and "overwhelming" to catalog the ballistic fingerprints of every firearm in California.)

S. 516 (Bunning, Boxer, Inhofe, Craig, Allen, Nickles, Burns, Brownback, Thomas, Snowe, Miller, Campbell, Sessions): This bill would require the government to allow specially trained cargo pilots, in addition to commercial pilots, to carry firearms for the protection of themselves and their planes.

S. 659 (Craig, et al.): This bill would prohibit federal or state harassment suits against gun dealers or manufacturers for the unlawful use of their products by third persons. Like its House-passed counterpart, it would allow suits for "negligent entrustment" and "defect in design."

S. 679 (Biden et al.): This bill would expand programs providing federal funding to hire local police. In rural areas, these programs have tended to enhance the establishment of "speed traps." In urban areas, stated uses include "illegal ... possession of alcohol" and "firearms ... incidents."

S. 819 (Milulski, Sarbanes, Leahy, Campbell): This bill would tweak the Law Enforcement Officers Retirement Equity Act, using, for example, authorization to carry a firearm as a factor to establish coverage.

S. 866 (Kohl, Durbin, Schumer, Corzine, Feinstein, Reed, Lautenberg): This bill would require an individual to effectively buy a safety lock with the purchase of any handgun, irrespective of need. It would provide for civil penalties and license suspension or revocation in the event of non-compliance, and would put the Consumer Products Safety Commission in charge of promulgating standards for the devices.

S. 969 (Lautenberg, Kennedy, Corzine, Reed): This bill would allow Instantcheck records to be kept indefinitely at any time when the terrorism threat level is "yellow" or above, at it is now and will be for the foreseeable future. It would also impose criminal penalties for the negligent sales of a firearm by an FFL, thereby effectively requiring dealers to investigate their purchasers beyond the requirements of current law -- and would impose specific investigation requirements for an FFL purchasing a firearm from a non-FFL. It would impose a national one-gun-a-month limit on the sales of handguns from a licensee to a non-licensee, would allow unlimited BATF inspections of licensees, would set up a national registry of gun shop employees, and would generally increase criminal penalties for gun crimes. Finally, it would authorize 1,500 new BATF agents and inspectors in 2004.

S. 980 (Graham, Miller): This bill would require the National Research Council of the liberal National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of ballistic imaging (pro-and-con), its practicality, and its implementation. Federal funds would be withheld from use for ballistic imaging (subject to a BATFE waiver) pending the outcome of the study. But given the history of the organization, the National Academy of Sciences report would almost certainly give impetus to the push for ballistic fingerprinting.

S. 1034 (Feinstein, Schumer, Chafee, Jeffords, Kennedy, Durbin, Lautenberg, Boxer, Reed): This bill would make the semi-automatic ban (and the semi-automatic magazine ban) PERMANENT -- and would impose a semi-automatic magazine import ban, irrespective of whether the magazine was manufactured prior to 1994. Press reports which have characterized this as a simple ten-year extension of the 2004 sunset date are INACCURATE.

S. 1062 (Campbell): This bill would increase, from ten to fifteen years, federal penalties for stolen firearms offenses.

S. 1123 (Boxer, Biden): This is the Senate counterpart of H.R. 2539. It would create a federal crime of committing a violent act against a child if, inter alia, a gun is used. It also would expand and authorize $50,000,000 for various federal programs extending federal jurisdiction into local responsibility for crimes against children.

S. 1177 (Hatch, Kohl, et al.): This bill deals with illicit trafficking in cigarettes, and thus invokes the authority of BATF.

S. 1224 (Corzine, Lautenberg): This bill would dramatically expand the authority of the federal government over firearms by:

giving the Department of Justice comprehensive authority to regulate the design, manufacture, and performance of firearms and ammunition -- and to recall and prevent the manufacture and transfer of firearms and ammunition which, in any way, fail to comply with DOJ regulations;

require elaborate labeling, testing, paperwork, reporting, and inspection requirements for firearms and ammunition;

immediately after the bill's passage, prohibit the stepped-up purchase of firearms;

create a broad range of enforcement mechanisms, including private causes of action, civil penalties, and injunctions.

S. 1243 (Schumer, Durbin): This bill would (1) increase the prison term for transferring a firearm to a prohibited person from ten to twenty years, and (2) apply federal racketeering laws -- with their private causes of action and treble damages -- to a person who NEGLIGENTLY transfers a firearm to a prohibited person.

S. 1414 (Hatch, Miller, Hutchison, Craig, Cornyn, Sessions, Domenici, Chambliss, Burns, Sununu, Enzi, Bunning, Allen, Stevens, Campbell, Grassley, Thomas, Graham (S.C.), Crapo): This bill would repeal the D.C. gun ban.

S. 1431 (Lautenberg, Corzine): This bill would reauthorize and expand the semiauto ban, prohibiting:

64 explicitly named firearms;

any firearm with a detachable magazine and any of the following: a folding or telescoping stock, threaded barrel, pistol grip, forward grip, or barrel shroud;

most semiautos with fixed magazines with more than 10 rounds;

any semiauto pistol with a detachable magazine and any of the following: a second pistol grip, threaded barrel, barrel shroud, or detachable magazine at a location other than the pistol grip;

any semiautomatic shotgun with a folding or telescoping stock, a pistol grip, a detachable magazine, a fixed magazine holding over five rounds;

any shotgun with a revolving cylinder;

any conversion kit; or

any firearm originally designed for the police or the military, if it is not "particularly suitable for sporting purposes," as determined by the Department of Justice.

In addition, the bill would:

require an Instantcheck in connection with the transfer of any semiauto;

ban the transfer of any banned semiauto with a "large capacity ammunition feeding device";

expand to semiautos the labyrinthine provisions of 18 U.S.C. 922(x), making it effectively impossible to legally teach your children the safe use of firearms;

ban the import of semiauto magazines.

S. 1657 (Bunning, Boxer): This bill would allow cargo pilots to carry firearms in the cockpit.

S. 1706 (Schumer): This bill would statutorily require states to provide all information to the FBI which is "relevant to a determination of whether a person is disqualified from possessing or receiving a firearm under subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of title 18, United States Code, or applicable State law". [Section 102 (c) (1) (A)]

There is certainly a possibility that section 102 (c) (1) (A) contains an implicit right to sue states for the information. In addition, after five years, failure to provide 90% of the information demanded by the FBI will result in a 10% reduction in funds under section 506 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3756), unless waived.

Finally, government agencies are required to provide similar information under section 101, including, for example, TSA records. This is particularly troubling, given TSA's access, under the CAPPS II program, to billions of individual financial and personal records (including, for instance, credit card records of book purchases).

What types of records will be required to be made available to the FBI?

Everyone assumes that means records concerning felonies, domestic misdemeanors, and restraining orders - and it does.

But 18 U.S.C. 922 (g) and (n) contain categories as well:

Certainly, the most potentially far-reaching category is 18 U.S.C. 922 (g) (5), which prohibits gun ownership by a person who, "being an alien, is illegally or unlawfully in the United States".

Any database which might prove that an alien -- admitted lawfully into the U.S. -- has remained in the U.S. unlawfully -- potentially subject to the FBI's reach, particularly under an anti-gun administration. This information include:

federal and state tax returns;

employment and unemployment insurance information;

library card information.

18 U.S.C. 922 (g) (3) bars firearms transfers to any person who is "an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance." Presumably, this includes arrest records for marijuana possession and diversion and drug treatment records, to the extent that they can be accessed by the state.

In addition, 18 U.S.C. 922 (g) (4) prohibits gun ownership by any person who "has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution." H.R. 3237 and S. 1706 purport to establish "privacy protections" and other limits with respect to records in this category. But one wonders whether an anti-gun administration will eventually move IDEA children, for example, into this category.

In summary, this bill is an open-ended monstrosity which may -- particularly in the hands of a Clinton-like anti-gun administration -- be used to hand the FBI vast amounts of information about law-abiding Americans.

S. 1735 (Hatch, Feinstein, Grassley, Graham (S.C.), Chambliss, Campbell): This is a comprehensive package purportedly designed to deal with "gang" violence through federal action. Specifically, it defines as a "street gang":

a formal or informal group of 3 or more individuals

who act in concert (or agree to do so)

for the purpose of committing two or more "predicate gang crimes" -- a term which includes violation of 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(2), (b), (c), (g), or (h).

In particular, these offenses include negligently selling a firearm to a prohibited person, negligent receipt of a stolen firearm, negligently shipping a firearm which is used in a felony, and possessing a firearm during and in connection with a crime of violence (including Bernie Goetz-type self-defense which does not technically conform with legal requirements). Thus, if a gun store --

unknowingly acquired two stolen firearms;

unknowingly sold two firearms to a person who used them to commit a felony; OR

unknowingly sold two firearms to a prohibited person who was masking his identity --

the gun shop would be a "criminal street gang" if a jury determined that it should have investigated its sellers and purchasers more thoroughly. All of the employees of the gun shop could be subject to twenty-year prison sentences. Suffice it to say that there have been 34 cities, counties, and other jurisdictions which have sued gun manufacturers and dealers, arguing that they have just such a responsibility.

S. 1774 (Kennedy, Clinton, Corzine, Feinstein, Lautenberg, Levin, Reed, Schumer): This bill would make the plastic gun ban permanent.

S. 1805 (Craig): This is the version of the gun manufacturer liability bill which was considered on the Senate floor –- and was defeated by a 8-to-90 vote when it was saddled with a semi-automatic ban, a gun show ban, and a lock-up-your-safety provision. It would do away with some frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers, but would continue to allow suits for negligence (called "negligent entrustment") and design defects.

S. 1807 (McCain, Reed, DeWine, Lieberman, Chafee, Lautenberg, Schumer): This legislation requires Instantchecks at gun shows. It would effectively eliminate gun shows because every member of an organization sponsoring a gun show could be imprisoned for up to five years if the organization fails to notify each and every "person who attends the special firearms event of the requirements [under the Brady Law]." Thus, if the person responsible for handing out "Brady pamphlets" took a break to go to the bathroom, everyone responsible for the event could be sent to prison for five years.

S. 1835 (Hatch, Leahy): This is the Senate version of the plastic gun ban extension.

S. 1882 (Lautenberg, Schumer, Feinstein, Corzine, Reed, Clinton): This is the Senate version of the bill to require that the FBI-run Instantcheck system turn over records concerning any person on the "Violent Gang and Terrorist Organization File" to the "Federal Bureau of Investigation" [sic].

S. 1951 (Daschle, Johnson): This is a roughly $100,000,000 a year program to provide federal assistance to local law enforcement agencies in rural areas.

S. 1983 (Schumer, Reed, Clinton, Feinstein, Durbin): Trying to milk the D.C. sniper shootings for political benefit, this bill would create a national ballistic registry of all new or newly imported firearms. In addition, it would:

increase funding for BATF;

increase the number and scope of inspections which could be performed on FFL's;

increase various gun penalties;

make it easier to revoke an FFL; and

restrict gun sales to out-of-state residents.

S. 2060 (Reid): This bill would allow local law enforcement officials (of government agencies employing more than 400 persons) to carry firearms aboard airplanes.

S. 2102 (DeWine, Schumer): This bill would extend the class of prohibited persons to include those under indictment for or convicted of felonies in foreign courts, if the felonies would be similarly punishable in the U.S. This would presumably include persons arrested for subversive activities by fascist governments during the Second World War.

S. 2109 (Feinstein, Warner, Schumer, DeWine, Levin, Chafee, Dodd, Jeffords, Boxer, Clinton, Reed, Lautenberg): This bill would extend the semiauto ban for ten years.