by Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)
No sooner had Virginia Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine proposed a new gun control measure that would require gun sellers to take “reasonable steps” to assure they were not selling firearms to disqualified people—without defining those steps—than did the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms come out swinging against the proposal.
Kaine’s “Responsible Transfer of Firearms Act” would create what one newspaper described as “an affirmative responsibility” for gun sellers to take those “reasonable steps” but it not only doesn’t define what those steps might be, it also doesn’t explain what other “reasonable steps” a dealer or private seller might take if a buyer passes a background check.
“The language in Sen. Kaine’s bill seems intentionally vague and designed to create a chilling effect, especially on perfectly legal private firearms transactions,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.
In a statement that appears on Kaine’s website, his office noted that, “As recent, high-profile tragedies have shown, the gun laws in our country have done little to stem senseless gun violence.”
Omitted from that comment is the fact that the gun laws which have been so unsuccessful have been the same measures touted by the gun control lobby as being “sensible” measures to curb so-called “gun violence.”
“These numbing incidents in urban, rural, and suburban communities are made worse by the lack of accountability in those instances where the tragedy might have been avoided,” the statement added. “The Responsible Transfer of Firearms Act provides the ability to bring some measure of accountability for the violence that continues to plague our communities. It would hold a seller or transferor of firearms criminally liable should any of their transactions fall into the wrong hands.”
But Gottlieb said this suggests Kaine expects that firearms retailers and private citizens, who may sell guns at gun shows or in other private transactions, should somehow be able to read the minds of the prospective buyer, and perhaps even tell the future.
“It appears Sen. Kaine also expects gun dealers and private sellers to be clairvoyant,” he said. “Just what else could a retailer do beyond a background check? Sen. Kaine seems to suggest background checks on all transactions may not be good enough. The bill just talks about ‘reasonable steps,’ but what does that mean, especially to a private seller?”
In most states, private transactions are still legal without having to involve the services of a licensed firearms dealer to conduct a National Instant Check System (NICS) check. Gottlieb noted that the NICS system is not available to private citizens.
“Even if private sellers had access to the National Instant Check System, which they don’t, how could they possibly know what someone might do with a firearm in the future,” Gottlieb wondered in a press statement. “How could anyone know that, especially if the buyer passes a check? They can’t, but that seems to be what Kaine expects by introducing this measure.”
Gottlieb noted that virtually all shooters in recent high-profile attacks with multiple victims passed background checks because they purchased their firearms at retail outlets. That goes for the perpetrators of the Aurora movie theater attack, the US Navy Yard shooting, the Tucson attack that wounded former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, both Fort Hood shootings, the spree killings in Santa Barbara, CA, and others. Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook gunman, murdered his mother and stole her firearms, which had been purchased legally in Connecticut.
Knowing this, Gottlieb contended that the measure, which would alter the language in existing federal law, could still leave people vulnerable to prosecution in the event they sell a firearm that is later used in a crime, even if weeks, months or perhaps even years have passed.
“You could still be held liable especially if you were put before an Obama-appointed, anti-gun judge,” he asserted.
In the Kaine website statement about his measure, he contended that current law “makes it difficult to hold people responsible if they sell or transfer a firearm to someone who is barred by federal law from possessing firearms because it requires proof that they knew the buyer was prohibited under the law.”
Gottlieb read that and reacted, “Sen. Kaine apparently wants to prosecute people without any proof they knew that a gun buyer might be barred from having a firearm.”
Kaine reportedly introduced the bill in reaction to recent tragedies, including the real-time slaying of a television news crew during a live broadcast. But Kaine should know that the gunman in that incident, like other high-profile killers, legally bought his gun from a dealer after passing a background check, Gottlieb contended. It was not a private sale.
“Sen. Kaine is joining a mob of gun prohibitionists who are trying every scheme imaginable to discourage people from lawfully buying and selling firearms,” Gottlieb said. “He apparently wants to prosecute people for being unable to see into the future, or look into the mind of a customer, and he wants us to believe this will help prevent future crimes. If we go by the standard of his bill, he should face prosecution when his measure doesn’t prevent a crime somewhere over the horizon.”
