HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL 548 AND HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL 50

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

AN ACT

RELATING TO THE PUBLIC PEACE, HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE; REQUIRING CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON GUN TRANSFERS BETWEEN CERTAIN PERSONS; PROVIDING PENALTIES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. A new section of Chapter 30, Article 7 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] FIREARM TRANSFERS BETWEEN UNLICENSED PERSONS--BACKGROUND CHECKS.--

          A. A firearm shall not be transferred between two unlicensed persons in a commercial transaction until the transferor and transferee appear together with the firearm at a federal firearm licensee and the federal firearm licensee conducts a background check on the transferee that authorizes the transfer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 922(t). A transferor and transferee who violate the provisions of this subsection are each guilty of:

                (1) for a first offense, a misdemeanor; and

                (2) for a second or subsequent offense, a fourth degree felony.

          B. Each firearm transferred in violation of this section is a separate offense. Two or more offenses may be charged in the same complaint, information or indictment and punished as separate offenses for each firearm involved.

          C. As used in this section:

                (1) "background check" means the process described in 18 U.S.C. Section 922(t) that uses the national instant criminal background check system to determine whether a person is prohibited from possessing or receiving firearms under federal or state law;

                (2) "commercial transaction" means the transfer of a firearm:

                     (a) proceeding from an advertisement, posting, display or other listing on the internet or in a publication; or

                     (b) at or proceeding from a gun show;

                (3) "federal firearm licensee" means a person who holds a federal firearms license issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 923(a);

                (4) "firearm" means any weapon that will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosion;

                (5) "gun show" means an event at which more than twenty-five firearms are offered or exhibited for sale, exchange or transfer, and includes the parking lots and other grounds of the venue where the event takes place;

                (6) "transfer" means to sell, deliver or pass ownership;

                (7) "transferee" means an unlicensed person who intends to receive a firearm from another unlicensed person;

                (8) "transferor" means an unlicensed person who intends to transfer a firearm to another unlicensed person; and

                (9) "unlicensed person" means a person who is not a firearm dealer."

     SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2017.

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