Today, Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced the Gun Show Background Check Act. The bill would close the so-called “gun show loophole” which “allows people to purchase guns from unlicensed dealers at gun shows without going through a background check,” according to a press release issued today.
This legislation would provide for the following provisions, as obtained from the release:
- requires background checks on all sales at gun shows;
- defines a gun show as any event where 50 or more guns are offered or exhibited for sale;
- requires gun show promoters to register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), maintain a list of vendors at all gun shows and ensure that all vendors acknowledge receipt of information about their legal obligations; and
- requires federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to submit information, including the manufacturer/importer, model and serial number of firearms transferred at gun shows to the ATF’s National Tracing Center (NTC). No personal information about either the seller or the purchaser would be given to the ATF. Instead, as under current law, FFLs would maintain personal information in their files. The National Tracing Center would request personal information from an FFL only if a firearm becomes the subject of a law enforcement trace request.
The bill is co-sponsored by Senators “Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Charles Schumer (D-NY), John Kerry (D-MA), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Carl Levin (D-MI), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ).”
Congress in Your Pocket
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