This bill amends the federal criminal code to revise provisions related to the interstate transportation of firearms and ammunition. An individual may transport a firearm between two places (e.g., states) where it is legal to possess, carry, or transport the firearm. During transport, the firearm must be unloaded and secured or securely stored. Additionally, an individual may transport ammunition, or a detachable magazine or feeding device, between two places where it is legal to possess, carry, or transport the ammunition, magazine, or feeding device. During transport, the ammunition, magazine, or feeding device must not be loaded into a firearm and must be securely stored. This bill prohibits the arrest or detention of an individual for a state or local firearm or ammunition violation unless there is probable cause to believe the individual failed to comply with the provisions of this bill.
HR 358 : Interstate Transportation of Firearms or Ammunition
Position: Oppose Status: Died in a previous Congress
Relaxes laws regarding transportation of firearms. Changes burden of proof to prosecution.
Update
Introduced by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R - VA 9) 75 cosponsors (75 R)
More information:
This bill makes transporting illegal firearms much easier and prosecution much more difficult.
This bill could make trafficking guns from places with weak gun laws, like Indiana, into places like Chicago.
(1) Chicago’s violence problem is directly linked to the number of illegal guns available in the City;
(2) Sixty percent of guns recovered in crimes in Chicago were first sold in other states, many with weaker gun laws; and
(3) A small handful of gun stores, three from Cook Country and one from Gary, Indiana, continue to be responsible for a disproportionate number of crime guns recovered on Chicago’s streets.
TRACING THE GUNS: THE IMPACT OF ILLEGAL GUNS ON VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO
Those who benefit most from this bill are the gun lobby and gun traffickers.
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress, and was published on Jan 6, 2017: