Jeremiah Smith: “I voted against the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1999. One of the…”

“I voted against the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1999. One of the principal reasons why I voted against the bill is that it does not include two critically important provisions of the Smith amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State appropriations bill that passed the Senate on July 21, 1998, by a vote of 69-31. The Smith amendment provided major protections of the rights of law-abiding gun owners under the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States. As passed by the Senate last July, the Smith amendment included three major provisions. First, the Smith amendment prohibited the Federal Bureau of Investigation from charging a user fee or 'gun tax' for the so-called Brady handgun National Instant Check System (NICS) that will go into effect later this year. Second, the Smith amendment required the 'immediate destruction' of all records related to gun purchasers who are determined by the system to be legally entitled to buy a gun. Third, the Smith amendment created a private cause of action on the part of any individual gun purchaser who is the victim of a violation of either or both of the first two provisions of the amendment. Unfortunately, Mr. President, only the first provision of the Smith amendment remains intact in the final version of the omnibus appropriations bill.”