New Mexico Democrats Undertake Last Ditch Effort to Ban Private Gun Sales

New Mexico Democrats are assigning a new bill number to failed gun control legislation in hopes of reviving an effort to ban private gun sales.

The failed bill–HB 50–and will likely be renumbered HB 548 and taken up by the NM House Judiciary Committee on Monday.

HB 50 was sponsored by State Representative Stephanie Garcia Richard (D-Los Alamos). It mandates that New Mexico residents seek out an agent of the state–a Federal Firearms License holder (FFL)–and undergo a background check on every gun sale, whether retail or private. In other words, HB 50 is about universal background checks.

The NRA-ILA is sounding the alarm on the attempt to switch HB 50 to HB 548:

The original version of HB 50 was a near-universal ban on private firearms sales and temporary loans or transfers. It was so unpopular with lawmakers that it was sent back from the House floor to the House Judiciary Committee, where it has since languished.  Now, Bloomberg and anti-gun lawmakers are pushing HB 548, which requires that all online firearms sales and transfers taking place at gun shows be conducted through a federal firearm licensed dealer (FFL), which would involve extensive paperwork, a background check and an undetermined fee.

On February 9 Breitbart News reported that 32 out of 33 of New Mexico Sheriffs warned that HB 50 would lead to a gun registry; the same will be true of HB 548, as it is simply the same bill with a different number.

Breitbart News has long warned that a gun registry is necessary for universal background checks to work, whether the checks are federal or state-level. This is because the government has to know where every gun is if it wants to know whether a gun is changing hands in a private sale. And those who have paid attention have witnessed the scenario play out in California, where universal background checks have been complimented with firearm registration and gun confiscation laws.

HB 548 is expected to be taken up by the House Judiciary Committee around 1:30 pm Monday.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.