New House Bills Will Not Take Away People’s Guns
The Claim
HR 8 would create a national gun registry, which would be the first step towards ‘mandatory buybacks,’ or confiscation.
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Emerging story
On March 8th, 2021, U.S. representative for Georgia's 14th congressional district, Marjorie Taylor Greene Tweeted about two potential bills in the House of Representatives: H.R. 8 and H.R. 1446. She claimed that “HR 8 would create a national gun registry, which we all know is the first step towards ‘mandatory buybacks’ aka confiscation.” She also claimed that “HR 1446 would create a nationwide ‘waiting period’ delaying your access to a gun to defend yourself and your family."
Her statement was retweeted more than one thousand times, with one user calling these bills “the end of America.”
Many users thought these bills would infringe upon the Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found this claim to be misleading. The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 (H.R. 8) was created “to require a background check for every firearm sale.” In the full text of the bill, which is available online, it says “The purpose of this Act is to utilize the current background checks process in the United States to ensure individuals prohibited from gun possession are not able to obtain firearms.”
The Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021 (H.R. 1446) was created “to strengthen the background check procedures to be followed before a Federal firearms licensee may transfer a firearm to a person who is not such a licensee.”
The United States currently has a background check system in place, called the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). According to the NICS website, their background check “verifies the buyer does not have a criminal record or isn't otherwise ineligible to purchase or own a firearm.”
A statement from the White House says that these two bills “would help close existing loopholes in this system.” One current loophole is that an unlicensed or private gun seller—someone who sells a gun online, at a gun show, or anywhere else without a license—can sell a gun without having to run a background check. H.R. 8 would require all gun buyers to follow background check procedures.
After investigation, both H.R. 8 and H.R. 1446 are bills that attempt to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them by strengthening the process of background checks. There is no evidence that these bills will take guns away from any current or legal owners.
