NRA say 'its great' suggests co sponsorship to congcritters
I had sent a blistering commentary on this POS to my misreptile and the staff sent this back,
apparently they disliked my comments on mercinaries/hessians
we need to heat up the phones and get 922(o) and the import ban cleanup on this one apparently the fix is in again and as usual BOHICA.
fair use and all that :
nra email to house of misreps
H.R. 5005, THE "FIREARMS CORRECTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS ACT"
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
Sec. 1. Short Title
The bill may be cited as the "Firearms Corrections and Improvements Act."
Sec. 2. Correct Non-Substantive Error in Age Limit Provision
Without making any substantive change, this section corrects errors that make the current § 922(b)(1) difficult to understand.
Sec. 3. Possession and Transfer of Machineguns for Industry Testing and Security Contracting
In 1986, Congress prohibited all transfers of newly manufactured machineguns other than to government agencies. Since then, it has become clear that the ban has an adverse effect on the private sector's ability to serve government needs. This section addresses two issues:
Under current law, firearm and ammunition manufacturers cannot obtain machineguns for use in testing firearms and ammunition. In particular, ammunition manufacturers fulfilling government contracts need to ensure that their ammunition works reliably in new machineguns.
Under current law, companies providing security services under government contracts around the world may use machineguns to protect people and facilities overseas. However, they cannot obtain machineguns to train their personnel in the U.S.
This section would authorize importation, transfer and possession of machineguns only in relation to these two purposes. It would make no change with respect to any other civilian sales.
Sec. 4. Eliminate Obsolete Language in Brady Act
When Congress passed the Brady Act in 1993, it enacted a five-year interim provision (the current 18 USC § 922(s)) that required a five-day waiting period before completion of handgun transfers. The waiting period was to allow for local law enforcement to conduct a background check on the transferee.
The waiting period provision has had no effect since 1998, when the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) came online under the permanent provisions of the Brady Act (18 USC § 922(t)).
This section repeals the now-obsolete § 922(s) and the language in § 922(t) related to the transition to NICS. It makes no other changes to NICS operations.
Sec. 5. Ban Federal Background Check Tax
In 1998, the FBI proposed a "user fee" on each background check conducted through NICS. The Congress objected, and passed an appropriations rider that prohibited collection of any such tax or fee. The rider has remained in place every year since FY 1999. This section makes the ban permanent within Title 18.
Sec. 6. Eliminate Written Permission Requirement for Supervised Handgun Use
The Youth Handgun Safety Act (18 USC § 922(x)) generally prohibits persons under the age of 18 from possessing handguns. However, it was drafted in such a way that as enacted, it requires a juvenile using a handgun under the various exceptions to have written permission from a parent or guardian, even if the parent or guardian is personally present while the juvenile is using the handgun. This is obviously unnecessary.
This section removes the written permission requirement when the parent or guardian is present and the juvenile uses the handgun for the purposes specified in the Act.
Sec. 7. Elimination of Duplicative Multiple Sales Report Requirement
Under current law, when a licensed firearm dealer transfers more than one handgun to an individual within 5 business days, the dealer must send a report of the sale both to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATFE) and to a state or local law enforcement agency of the jurisdiction where the sale took place.
There is little or no evidence of any benefit from this duplicative requirement. There is also evidence that state and local agencies have not complied with privacy rules that require destruction of these records.
BATFE is the principal agency that investigates illegal firearm trafficking, so BATFE should be the agency that makes use of these reports. This section ends multiple sale reporting to state and local agencies, while retaining it for BATFE.
Sec. 8. Ban On Electronic Retrieval of Gun Buyer Information
Federal firearm licensees keep records of their transactions at their licensed place of business. When a federal firearm licensee goes out of business, the licensee must send these records to BATFE. BATFE uses the records as part of its national system for tracing firearms. In order to retrieve records efficiently, BATFE has created an electronic index of the out-of-business records it stores.
In the mid-1990s, in response to concerns that this index could form the nucleus of a national gun registration system repeatedly disapproved by Congress, the Congress enacted an appropriations rider that prohibits electronic retrieval of these records by the buyer's name or other personally identifying code. BATFE still uses the records to conduct traces, but does so just as it would for records still maintained by an active dealer-i.e., by tracing the gun itself from the manufacturer, to the dealer, to the first retail purchaser.
This section makes the prohibition on electronic retrieval of records a part of Title 18, consistent with several other provisions of the Gun Control Act that are intended to protect gun owners' privacy against creation of a national gun registry.
Sec. 9. Trace Disclosure (codifying appropriations language)
In support of lawsuits against the firearms industry, Chicago and other cities tried to get broad access to BATFE's firearm trace database and out-of-business dealer records. This was contrary to several provisions of Title 18 that were intended to limit access to those records.
Gun owners objected due to the potential invasion of their privacy; BATFE and police organizations objected due to the potential effect on ongoing investigations, including possible disclosure of names of suspects, officers and informants. Congress reacted by passing appropriations riders in FY 2003, 2004 and 2005 to prohibit disclosure of these records for civil litigation.
This section makes the substance of the rider part of Title 18, but continues to allow disclosure to law enforcement agencies. It also allows disclosure to foreign agencies so that BATFE can assist friendly governments such as Canada.
Sec. 10. Barrel and Receiver Importation
Since 1989, under its interpretation of the "sporting purposes" test for firearms imports (18 USC § 925(d)(3)), BATFE has prohibited importation of certain military-style semiautomatic rifles. Since the late 1990s, it has also prohibited importation of barrels and receivers for non-importable rifles, except for repair or replacement purposes.
In 2005, the Department of Justice adopted an even stricter interpretation of the law, which ended all importation of these parts even for repair or replacement use.
This section would restore the more flexible approach that existed until 2005.
