Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Ohio for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, once again, Democratic leadership is proposing legislation that would do nothing to prevent criminals from accessing firearms while greatly restricting the Second Amendment rights of law- abiding citizens.

These bills are being sold to the public as an effort to pass universal background checks. But House Democrats fail to recognize that every commercial gun sale in the United States already has a background check.

Mr. Speaker, ending gun violence in America is a goal we all share, but H.R. 8 will subject law-abiding gun owners to criminal penalties for simply handing a firearm to another person.

For instance, if you loaned a friend a rifle to go hunting, they could face a year in prison or a $100,000 fine. This is simply ridiculous.

The same would be true, Mr. Speaker, if you loaned an abuse victim a firearm for self-defense. H.R. 1446 would create arbitrary delays for firearm purchases and could allow the FBI to delay a firearm transfer indefinitely.

These bills would do nothing to keep Americans safer and, in fact, threaten the public safety and our constitutional right to bear arms.

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