In the wake of the shooting of two Virginia television journalists, Senator Tim Kaine (VA-D) introduced S. 2016, the Responsible Transfer of Firearms Act. The legislation is designed to hold people responsible if they sell or transfer a firearm to someone who is barred by Federal law from firearms possession.

In essence, the proposal would raise the bar for commercial and private dealers who are now protected from criminal prosecution. Under Kaine’s bill, gun sellers would be criminally liable for a bad sale if they did not take reasonable, affirmative steps to determine that the customer met Federal criteria. The goal is to put more pressure on gun sellers to use the Federal background check system already in place.

Under current law, gun sellers can only be held liable if they know or have reasonable cause to believe that a recipient is prohibited from gun-ownership.

“Whether you’re a private seller or a gun dealer, or whether you’re somebody giving a gun to a relative, or whether you’re at a gun show, why should the law be that you can casually put the weapon in the hands of somebody that is barred from having a weapon?”

Kaine says the law would govern all gun transactions. Under the current standard, he says, it is difficult to hold someone accountable for an illegal sale or transfer of a weapon because they can claim they did not know the recipient fell into one of the prohibited categories (such as people who are under indictment or convicted of a crime, are fugitives from justice, or have been judged mentally ill.)

As with all gun safety legislation, the bill faces an uphill climb in Congress, with opponents calling it a backdoor ban on all private firearms sales. Critics also say that the bill fails to define ”reasonable” steps and is therefore too ambiguous to be effective. S. 2016 has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

For more background on gun safety, see the March 2013 issue of Congressional Digest on “Gun Violence Prevention,” the November 1999 issue of Congressional Digest on “Firearms in America,” the April 2010 issue of Supreme Court Debates on “Gun Control in the States,” and the May 2007 issue of Supreme Court Debates on “The Second Amendment.”