Your Guide To The Gun Bills Introduced In Congress (So Far)

We’ve been writing quite a bit about some of the individual firearm-related bills introduced by anti-gun Democrats since the current session of Congress kicked off a month ago, but on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co we’re running down the list of all gun bills filed to date; both good and bad.

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This list is undoubtably going to grow in the days and weeks to come, but for now here’s what’s on the table in Congress.

H.R. 194 – Filed by Rep. Michael Burgess, a Republican member from Texas, this bill would” require the Inspector General, Department of Justice, to submit a report to the Congress on the number of firearm transaction denials issued by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System that are referred to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for investigation, the number of prosecutions resulting from such investigations, and the number of firearms recovered by the Bureau in cases in which such a denial was issued after the firearm was transferred.”

H.R. 167 Introduced by Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat. This legislation would impose a prison sentence of up to two years and a  fine of $10,000 per transaction on anyone transferring a firearm at a gun show without going through a Federal Firearms Licensee.

H.R. 130 The first of several gun control bills on our list filed by Texas Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. The “Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act” would require all firearms to be unloaded and locked up in a gun safe with a trigger lock attached. Violations of the law could result in a fine of up to $100,000 and a 20-year federal prison sentence if a person’s unsecured gun was used in the commission of a violent crime.

H.R. 127  The Sabika Sheik Firearm Licensing and Registration Act is another special bill from Rep. Jackson Lee, and this legislation actually has received a good deal of media attention, at least in the 2A community, thanks to its absolutely insane mandates for a national gun license that would require psychological evaluations, sign off from former spouses and other character references, and 24 hours of training in order to legally own a gun.

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H.R. 135 Another bill from Rep. Jackson Lee. HR 135 requires the director of the FBI to “report to the Congress semiannually on the number of firearms transfers resulting from the failure to complete a background check within 3 business days, and the procedures followed after it is discovered that a firearm transfer has been made to a transferee who is ineligible to receive a firearm.”

H.R. 225 We don’t have the text for this bill yet, but the forthcoming legislation from Rep. Morgan Griffith, a Virginia Republican, seeks to “more comprehensively address the interstate transportation of firearms or ammunition.” This isn’t going to be a gun control measure, at least based on Griffith’s past voting record, but will hopefully provide more protections for legal gun owners traveling outside of their home state.

H.R. 748 and S. 190 – The House and Senate both have versions of this gun storage bill offered up by Connecticut’s congressional delegation. This storage bill differs slightly from the one authored by Sheila Jackson Lee, but is still substantially similar to the gun storage law struck down by the Supreme Court in the Heller case.

H.R. 545 Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) would like to ban members of Congress from carrying in the Capitol, and H.R. 545 is the vehicle he’s using to halt the practice, which has been allowed under Capitol rules since the late 1960s. While Congress exempted itself from its carry ban, ordinary citizens, legislative staff, and Capitol employees are still barred from doing so. In my mind, that makes this legislation more of a partisan political fight than a true 2A issue. After all, even those members of Congress who have publicly stated that they carry in the Capitol aren’t fighting for the right of anyone else to do so.

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H.R. 355 This bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida, is a bit of a “gotcha” bill for Democrats. It would require NICS to notice Immigration and Customs Enforcement any time and illegal immigrant tries to purchase a gun from a retail location. Despite the Democratic Party’s love of gun control, this bill will be a tough one for Democrats to get behind because it targets illegal immigrants, and not legal gun owners.

H.R. 647 If you want a detailed analysis of this bill, you can read this piece, but the basic idea behind Democrat Rep. Jason Crow’s legislation is to require that all gun sales to out-of-state residents would require shipping the firearm to an FFL in the buyer’s home state. That’s currently the law regarding handgun sales, but Crow would extend the mandate to long guns as well.

H.R. 95  The Hearing Protection Act, which would remove firearm suppressors from the National Firearms Act, has been introduced for several years running by Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina. While I’d love to believe that this the year the bill will see success, with Democrats in control of the House I’d be shocked if it even gets out of committee.

H.R. 30 Illinois Democrat Bobby Rush is the main sponsor of this bill which purports to crack down on illegal gun trafficking, but the bill is so badly written that it could pose huge legal problems for organizers of JROTC and 4H shooting leagues, as well as summer camps and Scouting organizations that teach marksmanship to young shooters.

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H.R. 38 Another good bill that, sadly, doesn’t stand much of a chance in this session of Congress. The Right to Carry Reciprocity Act, filed by North Carolina Republican Richard Hudson, would require states to recognize all concealed carry licenses issued by others. The Second Amendment is the only right that gets diminished beyond the borders of the state where you live, and H.R. 38 would go a long way towards addressing that problem, but the Democratic control of the House chamber is likely going to keep the bill bottled up in committee.

H.R. 121 – This bill by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee would fund the hiring of 200 additional ATF field agents and investigators to enforce federal gun laws.

H.R. 125 The “Not Sorry Act” of 2021, again authored by Rep. Jackson Lee, would impose a mandatory 7-day waiting period on all purchases of semi-automatic firearms, suppressors, “armor piercing” ammunition (otherwise known as most center-fire rifle ammunition), and all ammunition magazines that can hold more than ten rounds.

Honestly, I have no idea why Jackson Lee didn’t just write a bill for a mandatory 7-day waiting period for all firearm, ammunition, and suppressor sales. It’s not like anyone is going to view this as some sort of moderate move or compromise position.  Jackson Lee doesn’t care why someone might not want to wait a week to be able to get a gun for self-defense. If that’s what you really need, I guess she’d tell you to go buy a revolver.

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H.R. 133 Our final bill is also authored by Rep. Jackson Lee. “David’s Law” isn’t really a true gun control bill, and in fact it’s one of the few measures introduced by the Texas Democrat that actually targets criminals and not legal gun owners. The legislation would impose a minimum ten-year sentence on anyone using a firearm in the commission of a designated “hate crime.”

So there you have it, at least for now. There are obviously some notable gun control ideas that are missing from the current list of legislation; universal background checks and Joe Biden’s ban on modern sporting rifles and hundreds of millions of ammunition magazines among them. I suspect that Biden’s gun ban is being held back until he and Democratic leaders in Congress feel like the political moment is right, and when it is introduced I don’t think it will languish in committee. They’ll hold off until they believe the political winds are behind them, and then they’ll try to strike as quickly as possible.

As for the bills that have been introduced, we’ll have to wait and see. I think the pro-2A bills are going nowhere with Nancy Pelosi in charge of Congress, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Democrats begin to push a safe storage bill at some point in the not-too-distant future. In fact, of all the gun control measures that have been introduced to date, I’d say that the storage legislation is the likely starting point for Democrats in Congress and their anti-gun agenda.

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