Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act

PROTECTION OF LAWFUL COMMERCE IN ARMS ACT

Mr. CORNYN. I thank Senator Craig.

Mr. President, I want to address this bill generally but then close my comments on the so-called gun show loophole amendment.

I believe there are those who benefit from the job-destroying lawsuit lottery in this country, and there are those who seek to restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens to use firearms for legitimate purposes.

On the job-destroying lawsuit lottery, let me just mention one company in Texas, Maverick Arms, located in Eagle Pass, where 140 dedicated people work to assemble Mossberg and Maverick guns, high-quality firearms for shooting sports, military, and law enforcement communities. Maverick's ability to continue providing good jobs to the citizens of Texas is in jeopardy. It is in jeopardy because of junk lawsuits filed by trial lawyers, and the politicians who support their right to terrorize a legal employer providing a legal product, as opposed to focusing our efforts on the criminals and those who illegally use firearms who should be punished for doing so.

I believe it is absolutely imperative that, rather than focusing on and punishing law-abiding citizens who want nothing more than to provide for their families by engaging in a lawful enterprise and producing a legal product, we ought to focus our law enforcement efforts on the criminals. Indeed, we have found through programs such as Project Exile in Richmond, VA, and Texas Exile in my own State, we can have a real impact by punishing the convicted felons who illegally possess firearms and those who use firearms illegally to jeopardize our communities and threaten our communities, and that there is absolutely no benefit to be gained by passing additional laws, as the proponents of these amendments would do, that limit the rights of law-abiding citizens.

I would like to just mention in closing why I believe we do need to expand the role of instant background checks to all commercial gun sales, no matter where they occur. But as well-intentioned as the amendments proposed by Senator McCain and Senator Reed and Senator Lieberman and others are, the so-called closing the gun show loophole bill-as well-intentioned as they are, I think it misses the mark. I would like to work with them to try to bring the instant background check to all commercial gun sales in this country.

The problem is this amendment, as well-intentioned as it is, will have the effect, should there be a State attorney general who doesn't seek a 24-hour instant background check period, that there will be a default through a 3-day check period, which will essentially obliterate gun show sales.

It is important to point out that, currently, everybody who is a dealer in firearms is subject to the Federal firearms license. Indeed, there is no such thing as an unlicensed dealer. But what this amendment would seek to do would be to affect people who are not dealers in firearms, but are collectors, people who engage in sales to friends and family and others, and these are. As long as they are lawful possessors of these firearms, I don't believe the full apparatus of the Federal Government ought to intrude on that ability to conduct a sale that is no threat to the people of this country.

So S. 1706, which Senator Craig and others have cosponsored, which currently sits in the Judiciary Committee, I suggest is an appropriate vehicle. Senator McCain and others are cosponsors of that bill. I think it will ultimately accomplish the goal of this gun show amendment. I cannot support that amendment as it is written now, but I look forward to working with them to write a bill that would address the real problem, and that is a need for instant background checks across the board to make sure guns are not sold to common criminals, and make sure that we do not unnecessarily interfere with the rights of law-abiding citizens.

With that, I yield back the remaining time to the Senator from Idaho.