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Senate panel approves bill targeting 'straw purchases' of guns
LA Times ^ | March 7, 2013 | Melanie Mason

Posted on 03/08/2013 10:18:44 AM PST by neverdem

The bill, which has bipartisan support, would impose strict penalties on buyers and sellers involved in purchases of firearms for someone who can't legally buy one.

WASHINGTON — The Senate will take up its first firearms measure since the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, after the Judiciary Committee approved a bill Thursday to combat gun trafficking.

The proposal, steered by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the committee chairman, would impose strict penalties for buying a firearm for someone who cannot legally do so, an act known as a straw purchase. The bill would also toughen punishment for selling a gun to a person prohibited from owning one.

"Law enforcement officials have consistently called for a firearms trafficking statute that can be effective to go after straw purchasers," Leahy said. "What we need to do now is to create better law enforcement tools."

The trafficking bill, one of four gun measures being debated by the committee, will now move to the Senate floor. It faces an easier path than background checks for all gun sales and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Those bills, which the committee is to consider next week along with a school safety measure, have so far failed to garner the bipartisan support needed to pass the Senate.

President Obama, who made gun control one of his top priorities after a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December, called the vote a "big step toward sensible gun safety reforms." He said the bill would "crack down on folks who buy guns only to turn around and funnel them to dangerous criminals."

The measure passed on an 11-7 vote; all 10 Democrats on the committee backed the bill, along with Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican...

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: banglist; guncontrol; secondamendment; strawbuyers; strawpurchases
Straw purchases? What happened to Fast & Furious?
1 posted on 03/08/2013 10:18:44 AM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Shouldn’t these jackasses be working on a budget?


2 posted on 03/08/2013 10:20:55 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Progressive, Marxist liberals do not evolve, they morph into fascists.)
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To: neverdem

I wonder if these Senators are too stupid or in denial about straw purchases by the Feds. (Read: Fast and Furious) These criminals are totally out of touch with reality. They are called domestic enemies of the Constitution.


3 posted on 03/08/2013 10:21:33 AM PST by mosaicwolf (Strength and Honor)
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To: neverdem

I thought straw purchases for guns was already illegal, I’ll be darned.


4 posted on 03/08/2013 10:22:57 AM PST by ThePatriotsFlag ( EVERY DIME Obama Spends is given to him by the Republicans in the House.)
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To: neverdem

Let’s see. Before it was “bad” to buy a gun for someone you knew or should have known wasn’t allowed to buy one themself. Now with the new ruling it will be “really, really bad” if you do it. Yup, that’ll work. Except for the bangers in the back alleys selling them to whoever. What asshats.


5 posted on 03/08/2013 10:24:10 AM PST by rktman (BACKGROUND CHECKS? YOU FIRST MR. PRESIDENT!(not that we'd get the truth!))
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To: mosaicwolf

Since when have straw purchases ever NOT been illegal? This sounds like back door registration. Do NOT comply!


6 posted on 03/08/2013 10:26:40 AM PST by rickomatic
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To: neverdem

A “panel.”

Donks and a RINO are “cracking down.”

And MAYBE a budget by April, months (years) late.

P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C

.


7 posted on 03/08/2013 10:27:11 AM PST by TLI ( ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA)
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To: ThePatriotsFlag

Yeah, but now it will be MORE illegal. Kind of like adding a “hate” charge to a murder charge. Much more serious. Dumbasses!


8 posted on 03/08/2013 10:27:33 AM PST by rktman (BACKGROUND CHECKS? YOU FIRST MR. PRESIDENT!(not that we'd get the truth!))
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To: neverdem

Haven’t read the bill, but I’m assuming “straw purchases” has been redefined to mean “any private transfer of a firearm”. Anybody know if that is correct? I’m assuming like all leftists, when they can’t get their way, they change the wording and try again.


9 posted on 03/08/2013 10:32:10 AM PST by backwoods-engineer (Blog: www.BackwoodsEngineer.com)
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To: neverdem

“Under current law, prosecutors can charge straw purchasers with illegally making false statements on federal firearms sales forms, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison or up to $250,000 in fines.

“But law enforcement officials say the charge is often viewed as a paperwork violation, which hurts their ability to clamp down on such activity. The proposed bill would define straw purchases as a crime and raise the sentence to as much as 15 years imprisonment, or up to 25 years if it can be shown that the buyer had reason to believe the gun would be used in a violent crime. Federal law bars gun ownership for certain people, such as felons and those who have been involuntarily committed because of mental illness.”


10 posted on 03/08/2013 10:32:43 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Universal Background Check -> Registration -> Confiscation -> Oppression -> Extermination)
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To: backwoods-engineer

You may be on the right track because they are pushing for all private sales to go thu a FFL dealer who would do the background check. I don’t know if a private seller can request a backgorund check on a prospective buyer.


11 posted on 03/08/2013 10:49:26 AM PST by USAF80
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To: backwoods-engineer
S.54: Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013. ("trafficking" = "private interstate sales") Sponsor: Sen Leahy, Patrick J., Passed out of the Senate Judiciary committee

12 posted on 03/08/2013 10:55:52 AM PST by grobdriver (Vivere liberi aut mori)
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To: grobdriver; All
There is a gift exclusion clause, but look closely:

`(1) to be given as a bona fide gift to a recipient who provided no service or tangible thing of value to acquire the firearm, unless the person knows or has reason to believe such recipient is prohibited by Federal, State, or local law from possessing, receiving, selling, shipping, transporting, transferring, or otherwise disposing of the firearm;

(bold is mine)

ATF could do ANYTHING with this. They could say that your girlfriend is providing you a "service" in exchange for the .357 you gave her.

Or maybe, late in the reconciliation process after the House passes this bill, the gift exclusion is stricken. We'd be well and truly screwed then, because Zero would sign it without the gift exclusion.

There are whole categories of law that this language violates. The Federal government has no jurisdiction over what commerce happens within a state, but they have gotten rulings (Wickard v. Filburn) that let them do it.

You watch: before long, private transfers will be verboten. This could be the vehicle to get it done.

13 posted on 03/08/2013 11:08:04 AM PST by backwoods-engineer (Blog: www.BackwoodsEngineer.com)
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To: neverdem

Um, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to stop these without registering guns!


14 posted on 03/08/2013 11:27:51 AM PST by struggle (http://killthegovernment.wordpress.com/)
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To: neverdem

Not their purview.


15 posted on 03/08/2013 11:39:30 AM PST by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: neverdem

Way back when I didn’t have an F.O.I.D. (Illinois residents will understand) I had a friend buy my two sons shot guns for Christmas. Was that a straw purchase? They still have those shot guns.

Side story:

The first time I took them out with the guns, they learned a hard lesson about skunks. Baby skunks might be cute but you can bet, Momma is somewhere close by.


16 posted on 03/08/2013 12:48:16 PM PST by Graybeard58 (_.. ._. .. _. _._ __ ___ ._. . ___ ..._ ._ ._.. _ .. _. .)
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To: All

BEWARE AMENDMENTS!


17 posted on 03/08/2013 3:04:44 PM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: neverdem

I go to Mexico and buy all my guns directly from the U.S. Government. They have a nice selection of grenades, RPGs and anti-aircraft guns too.


18 posted on 03/08/2013 3:24:50 PM PST by TigersEye (The irresponsible should not be leading the responsible.)
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To: neverdem

Indeed. When are they going to arrest the perpetrators of the gun-running into Mexico?


19 posted on 03/09/2013 11:32:19 AM PST by TheOldLady
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To: neverdem
Federalism solves this easily. Why do we need to make every crime a FEDGOV problem? Don't we have 50 states that can easily add these laws. They're unnecessary, but put on a good show for the noobs. No good will come of it.
20 posted on 03/09/2013 3:18:05 PM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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