Chuck Schumer acted at the last minute to crowbar oppressive amendments into S. 374, the Senate’s background check legislation. The legislation was then approved by the Judiciary Committee on a 10-8 straight party line vote. Schumer’s amendment operates to limit transfers of guns from one person to another. But the definition of “transfer” — it encompasses providing the opportunity for others to possess one’s guns — and the penalties attached to violations make the legislation draconian.
Cooke explains:
If, for example, a gun owner leaves his home for more than seven days — leaving his firearms with his roommate, or gay partner, or landlord — he’ll be committing a felony that carries a five-year prison term. And while married couples are exempted from falling afoul of that provision, the family exemptions apply only to recorded “gifts” and not to “temporary transfers.” In order to avoid making felons of millions of couples, the government would, at the very least, need to spell out clearly what constitutes “gifting” a gun within a family and what constitutes a “temporary transfer,” thus regulating an area that has hitherto largely been left alone.
