Click the “Take Action” button below to urge committee members to oppose the ban on private firearm transfers!
In an effort to fast-track this Bloomberg-backed legislation through the House, anti-gun lawmakers have scheduled House Bill 50 for a hearing THIS Friday, February 10, before the House Judiciary Committee in Room 309 at 1:30pm or upon adjournment. Please plan to attend and speak in opposition to this intrusive, ineffective and unenforceable proposal -- and make sure you spread the word about Friday's hearing to family, friends and fellow gun owners!
Make Sure You Continue Contacting Your State Representatives in Opposition to HB 50! To locate who represents you, click here.
Bloomberg's national gun control group Everytown and the media continue to mislead lawmakers that this bill simply closes the non-existent “gun show loophole” and regulates online firearms sales. In fact, this measure is far more expansive.
House Bill 50 prohibits you from selling or gifting your firearms to any distant relatives, friends, neighbors, business associates, or fellow gun club members without government permission. The bill would criminalize nearly all private firearm sales between individuals unless they are conducted through a licensed dealer involving extensive federal paperwork, background check and payment of an undetermined fee. Licensed dealers maintain paperwork recording these transfers for twenty years and then turn it over to the federal government if they ever go out of business.
HB 50 similarly restricts temporary firearm transfers or loans -- not just gun sales. There are a limited number of exemptions, including transfers taking place exclusively at shooting ranges, while hunting or trapping, or during an organized competition or performance, or any time the transferor remains present the entire duration of the transfer. These exemptions are confusing, raise serious questions about the bills’ scope, compliance and enforceability, and highlight the overreach of the measures. Activities that could be criminalized under the bills without going through an FFL and obtaining government permission:
- An individual loaning his or her significant other a handgun for self-protection when homes or apartments in her neighborhood have been burglarized;
- A member of the military who is deployed overseas and wants to store his or her personal firearms with a trusted friend;
- Someone borrowing their co-worker’s gun to take on a hunting trip, to the local range or to shoot on BLM land when the colleague cannot accompany him or her on the excursion.
- Working ranch employees possessing and transporting ranch-owned rifles in vehicles or on their person.
- Volunteers staging auction or raffle items for a non-profit, charitable fundraising event where a firearm is displayed.
HB 50 also requires the return of loaned firearms to original owners be conducted through a licensed dealer, with completion of federal paperwork and payment of an undetermined fee.
Again, please click the “Take Action” button to contact your state lawmakers and urge them to oppose House Bill 50 when it comes up for a vote. To locate who represents you, click here.