Tell Your State Senator You Don’t Want Your Firearms Tracked, Taxed, or Taken!
This week, long-time anti-gun state Senator Jack Hatch (D-17) introduced Senate File 233 seeking to criminalize the private transfer of firearms. SF 233 would make it a crime for a private individual to transfer his or her legally-owned firearm without going through a federal firearm licensed dealer (FFL) to conduct a background check on the transferee. Exceptions are made only for “immediate family members” and individuals possessing permits to acquire or carry. The provisions would apply to all gun sales, gifts, loans, rentals or trades between friends, neighbors, co-workers or more-distant relatives. These restrictions would also apply to temporary transfers during hunting or target practice. SF 233 has been assigned to the Senate Committee on Education although a hearing date has not been scheduled at this time.
In addition to these absurd burdens, law-abiding individuals would be subjected to limitless transfer fees for any transfer--including simply lending a firearm to a hunting buddy for a weekend hunt. Criminalizing private transfers through the so-called “universal background check” scheme is unworkable and unenforceable and is the first step towards a “universal registration scheme.” The Obama Administration , in a January 2013 report, admitted that the effectiveness of this effort “depends on…requiring gun registration.”
Not surprisingly, criminals will not submit to any background check scheme. The only individuals who will be impacted by the bureaucratic and onerous requirements in this proposed legislation are law-abiding citizens.
Please contact the members of the Senate Education Committee and your state Senator TODAY and politely urge them to oppose SF233 and all other gun control measures. Also, tell them it is time to focus on REAL SOLUTIONS like stopping straw purchases, addressing the broken mental health system and aggressively prosecuting violators of state and federal firearm laws.
For additional information on private transfer bans, please click here.