The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in defense of the Second Amendment and in opposition to H.R. 8, the universal background checks act.

Federal law already restricts transferring firearms to prohibited individuals. Instead of working to strengthen the enforcement of laws currently on the books, this legislation will criminalize many activities that are common practice among law-abiding gun owners, while failing to prevent guns from getting into the hands of criminals.

Criminals do not follow the law when obtaining their firearms, and nothing in the bill would prevent them from continuing to obtain firearms through avenues like the black market, theft, or illegal straw purchases.

Federal law already strictly prohibits the possession, receipt, or purchase of firearms by prohibited individuals, including convicted felons, fugitives from justice, unlawful users of controlled substances, illegal aliens, and individuals subject to protective orders or convicted of a crime of domestic violence.

Meanwhile, law-abiding citizens could face up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for common practices such as trades, private sales, gifts, or temporary loans of firearms if this bill becomes law.

Lastly, I will note that under the rules of interpretation in H.R. 8, it says: ``Rules of interpretation. Nothing in this act, or any amendment made by this act, shall be construed to: authorize the establishment, directly or indirectly, of a national firearms registry.''

That is false. This bill will create a national registry. That is because every firearms transfer has to go through a Federal firearms licensee's acquisition and disposition logbook. And every time a Federal firearms license is not renewed, those records must be sent to the ATF for storage, which, in turn, scans those records into a database for a future use. That is, in effect, a national firearms registry in the making.

If the rules of interpretation of H.R. 8 are correctly followed, then one could logically argue that this bill actually prohibits itself by, in its own words, prohibiting, directly or indirectly, a national firearms registry.

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