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XPost: alt.society.liberalism, talk.politics.guns, alt.atheism
From: kurtnicklas@gmail.com
Gun talks hit a snag in Senate over universal background checks
By Alexander Bolton - 03/05/13 05:00 AM ET
The centerpiece of President Obama’s gun violence agenda is in peril
amid a deadlock among Senate negotiators over how to implement and
enforce a proposal requiring background checks for private gun sales.
With time running out for talks, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) remains
optimistic about reaching an agreement.
But gun control proponents have grown skeptical about whether
Schumer’s main Republican counterpart, Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.), is
acting in good faith.
Schumer argues — and gun control groups agree — that records must be
kept to ensure background checks are conducted before private
transactions. Otherwise, any expansion of background checks would be
unenforceable, they assert.
But Coburn worries that such a paperwork requirement could lead to a
national gun registry, which gun rights groups staunchly oppose,
according to Senate sources familiar with the talks.
Obama has ratcheted up his attention on Coburn in recent days. Coburn
told reporters the president called him Monday and Thursday but
declined to reveal specifics of the conversations.
Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) may have to focus more on
another GOP negotiator, Sen. Mark Kirk (Ill.), as the key to a deal,
rather than Coburn.
Kirk is still upbeat about forging a bipartisan agreement and could
reach out to other GOP colleagues to build support for the emerging
legislation, an aide said Monday.
“Sen. Kirk is committed to finding a workable solution that gets a
bipartisan bill,” Kirk’s spokesman Lance Trover said. “The senator
believes there is a workable solution for all sides.”
Kirk and centrist Republican Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) announced
Monday afternoon they had reached a deal with Democrats to give law
enforcement officials greater authority to prosecute gun trafficking
and straw purchasing. The legislation would stiffen penalties to up to
25 years in prison.
One important question is who would be responsible for maintaining the
record of a private sale. It could be the seller, or it could be a gun
shop that conducts a background check on behalf of a private seller,
as is required in Colorado and Oregon at gun shows.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) plans to
mark up a series of gun violence bills on Thursday after having
already delayed the session one week to give Schumer and Coburn more
time.
Leahy said the markup could spill into next week, giving Schumer and
Coburn even more time, but the deadline is fast approaching.
If they fail to reach a deal by the end of the markup, it will be
difficult to include background-check legislation in the gun violence
package headed to the Senate floor.
Groups from both sides of the debate agree background checks are the
lynchpin of Obama’s agenda. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.)
proposal to ban some military-style guns has little chance of passing.
Schumer has called background checks the “sweet spot” of gun control
legislation.
“It’s the fundamental building block of any serious gun violence
prevention system,” said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
Horwitz said Coburn’s opposition to requiring records for private
background checks calls into question whether the GOP lawmaker really
supports expanded checks.
“It’s such a non-issue to me, the whole thing seems like a big stall
tactic,” he said. “Saying there shouldn’t be a record, to me, is not
negotiating in good faith.”
Under current federal law, background checks are required only for
firearms purchased from licensed dealers. Dealers must keep a paper
record of a background check and transaction, a form 4473, but are not
required to submit them to a federal database.
However, some gun dealers complain agents from the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have copied their records,
sparking concerns the information may find its way into a national
database. Federal law allows the ATF to audit gun dealers’ records
once a year.
“[The ATF] is going to gun dealers and saying we want to copy all the
information on 4473s. They have the potential to put that information
into a national gun registry,” said Michael Hammond, legislative
counsel for Gun Owners of America.
Because records are not kept of private transactions, it’s difficult
to estimate how many of them happen each year. But gun policy experts
estimate they could make up as much as 40 percent of sales. Compiling
a national gun registry would be very difficult as long as they remain
unrecorded.
Schumer has already agreed to exempt transfers of weapons to family
members from background checks and has said he is open to a variety of
record-keeping methods for private sales.
If Coburn does not relent on the final sticking point, he may have to
drop out of the negotiations.
“They can’t wait forever. There aren’t that many options,” Horwitz
said.
The National Rifle Association, one of Washington’s most powerful
interest groups, opposes an expansion of background checks. It has
declined to comment on Schumer’s effort until legislative language
becomes public.
The other bills on the agenda for Thursday’s markup are the renewal of
the federal assault weapons ban, the legislation cracking down on
firearms trafficking and a bill to enhance safety at schools, backed
by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
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