Democrats’ $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package, unveiled early Wednesday, includes provisions that constitute “a serious expansion of federal gun control” according to the National Association for Gun Rights.

Due to continued efforts by Democrats to include gun control measures in the legislation, the bill was last passed into law in 2013, and has faced steep opposition from pro-Second Amendment Republicans since then.

Currently, almost all firearm sales require a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Purchasers who are tagged as having a criminal background barring them from possessing a firearm are tagged in the system and are not allowed to carry out the purchase.

However, VAWA takes this system much further.

Under its provisions, the attorney general is required “to issue a notice to State, local, or Tribal law enforcement and prosecutors if an individual has attempted to purchase a firearm and been denied pursuant to the national instant criminal background check system.”

In other words, an attempt to buy a firearm while legally barred from owning one can be met with criminal investigation.

Recently the Gun Owners of America (GOA) sent out an alert chronicling the serious issues they found in the bill already passed by the House and Senate.

Democrats and Republicans have been pushing to stuff gun control in big and popular bills, such as the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA), for years. Part of their strategy was putting something unpopular, like gun control, into something which is difficult to vote against. Like a law called the Violence Against Women Act. Read more