In response to the fatal Virginia shooting of two reporters, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine has introduced the \u201cResponsible Transfer of Firearms Act\u201d to crack down on the selling of guns to criminals.<\/p>\n
Kaine\u2019s proposal would hold commercial and private firearms dealers criminally responsible for a bad sale if they couldn\u2019t prove they took \u201creasonable steps\u201d to ensure the buyer was not a prohibited person. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs recent tragedies in Virginia and across the country have shown, the gun laws in our country have done little to stem senseless gun violence,\u201d said Kaine. \u201cThese numbing incidents in urban, rural and suburban communities are made worse by the lack of accountability in those instances where the tragedy might have been prevented.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Kaine goes on to add that his bill may not have stopped the Virginia shooting, but assured it will still make the country a safer place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll never be able to eliminate all acts of violence,\u201d said Kaine. \u201cThis particular statute would not necessarily have caught\u2026 the perpetrator of these horrible crimes, but we can do better. We can make our commonwealth and our country safer and that\u2019s what this act is about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although there are already statues in place to require firearms dealers to conduct background checks on potential buyers, Kaine\u2019s bill would now make their \u201cnegligence\u201d a crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would hold a seller or transferor of firearms criminally liable should they fail to demonstrate they took reasonable steps to prevent a weapon from falling into prohibited hands,\u201d said Kaine. \u201cWhy should someone be able to casually place an illegal firearm in the hands of a felon?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear who Kaine is referring to, but typically firearms dealers aren\u2019t in the practice of handing over guns to known felons.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, efforts to reduce gun violence must focus on multiple solutions,\u201d said Kaine. \u201cBut this act is a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
(This article was a submission by freelance writer Brent Rogers<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In response to the fatal Virginia shooting of two reporters, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine has introduced the \u201cResponsible Transfer of Firearms Act\u201d to crack down on the selling of guns to criminals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":42463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[244,7,326,240],"tags":[132,122],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-2nd-amendment-r2kba","8":"category-gunsamerica-authors","9":"category-brent","10":"category-this-week","11":"tag-buzz","12":"tag-r2kba"},"yoast_head":"\n