Gun Traficking Law

The Knox Report

Gun trafficking laws already exist: Opposing view
Chris Knox and Jeff Knox9:03p.m. EST March 7, 2013Why add another layer? Just enforce the old ones.
Gun sale.(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)
Story Highlights
Congress wants to be seen as "taking action."
But passing a law is only one step. Enforcing the law is quite another.
Even worse than the selective enforcement is what happens when paperwork violations become federal felonies.
A bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday describes the newly minted crime of "gun trafficking."

That sounds great on the surface. Digging further, however, reveals that the activities lumped under the new legal term gun trafficking — purchasing a firearm for someone who is otherwise prohibited from possessing a gun, buying guns to be illegally smuggled out of the country, delivering guns in the knowledge that they will be used in the furtherance of crimes — are already illegal under existing law.

OUR VIEW: 'Straw purchases' should burn

So what does Congress hope to accomplish by adding yet another layer of federal law to the already ample prohibitions against acts that we all agree should be illegal? It's the desire to "do something." Congress wants to be seen as "taking action."

But passing a law is only one step. Enforcing the law is quite another. In 2010 (the latest year available), according to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, 6 million Americans applied to buy a gun through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Of those, fewer than 1.2% — more than 72,000 — were denied. Of that number, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives referred 4,732 cases for prosecution. And out of that small percentage, 44 were prosecuted, yielding only 13 guilty pleas.

Even worse than the selective enforcement is what happens when paperwork violations become federal felonies. Paperwork felonies have ensnared honest people in a web of laws premised on "known or should have known."

The latest example is the Reese family of New Mexico. Their family gun shop, for decades a fixture in the Deming area, is now closed after the owners were prosecuted under a federal indictment for making a straw sale. Store personnel failed to psychically discern that a government informant was lying on a purchase form.

The case against the Reese family has been crumbling in the face of proven misconduct, yet prosecutors are so invested in the case that they continue to pursue it. The Reeses are facing bankruptcy and the loss of their livelihood. With little left to lose, they are continuing the fight to clear their name.

The laws around buying and selling guns are already complex, arcane and subject to prosecutorial abuse. Adding another layer will not make the laws more effective against criminals if the government uses the new laws to attack ordinary citizens while giving real criminals a pass.

Chris Knox and Jeff Knox direct The Firearms Coalition, a grassroots membership organization that advocates for Second Amendment and other constitutional rights.