H.4706 would create the new felony crime of knowingly selling a firearm to an individual on the consolidated terrorist watch list administered by the FBI. This crime would be punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. Of course, the issue here is how is a private seller to know if another individual is on the terror watch list?
If we’re going to punish private sellers for making these sales, then this law would essentially forces all private sellers to go through the background check process for fear of the potential consequences if they don’t. In other words this legislation would essentially be a universal background check bill, a policy which cannot work without a universal gun registry which itself has been met with high rates of disobedience when tried in other countries.
Even if this law is only meant to apply to licensed firearm dealers, proving they knowingly sold a firearm to someone on the watch list would be difficult. Typically firearm dealers do not have access to the terror watch list and must rely on the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) for background checks, a process which has been known to permit sales to individuals on the list. In short, this law infringes on our rights, and may in fact be unenforceable.