House Democrats Plan Vote to Criminalize Private Gun Sales This Week

House Democrats plan to move legislation criminalizing private gun sales out of committee and get it to the floor for a vote this week.

On January 8, Breitbart News reported that House Democrats introduced the legislation, dubbed H.R. 8, in honor of the eighth anniversary of the January 8, 2011, attack on Gabby Giffords.

Giffords stood with the Democrats as they introduced their gun control:

It is truly blessing to have former Rep. @GabbyGiffords join us to introduce #HR8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, eight years after the Tucson shooting. https://t.co/ePopfptJV9

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 8, 2019

H.R. 8 would outlaw the private gun sales Americans have enjoyed since December 15, 1791, the date on which the Second Amendment was ratified. This would criminalize a neighbor who sold a gun to lifelong neighbor without first getting government permission via a background check. It would also criminalize a friend for selling a gun to lifelong friend without government permission.

Ironically, the bill would have done nothing to stop the attack on Gabby Giffords because her attacker did not buy his gun privately. Rather, he passed a background check to acquire the gun retail.

Moreover, H.R. 8 would have done nothing to stop nearly every mass shooter to date in the 21st century. This is because nearly every mass shooter acquired his guns via background checks, rather than private gun sales. The exceptions are those who stole their guns.

Yet Democrats are rushing this legislation to the House floor for a vote. Reuters reports that the House Judiciary Panel “will mark up the bill…on February 13 and send it to the House floor for a vote.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.