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31 Yale L. & Pol'y Rev. Inter Alia 10 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/interal31 and id is 1 raw text is: YALE LAW & POLICY REVIEW The Restricted Firearms License: A Proposal to Preserve Second Amendment Rights and Reduce Gun Violence in the United States Egon D. Cohen* and Kristina M. Johnson** INTRODUCTION In the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, President Obama and others have called for legislative measures to combat gun violence.' So far, most of these proposals have focused on three principal approaches: (i) making all firearms transfers subject to National In- stant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) approval, (2) limiting fire- arm magazine capacity, and (3) banning models of semi-automatic firearms that possess certain military purpose features.3 University Fellow, Department of Religion, Temple University. CEO, Enduring Hydro. Dr. Johnson has previously served as U.S. Under Secretary of Energy and Provost of Johns Hopkins University. 1. See, e.g., Jonathan Karl, Devin Dwyer, & Mary Bruce, President Obama Unveils Sweeping Plan to Curb Gun Violence, ABC NEWS (Jan. 16, 2003), http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/president-obama-unveils-sweeping-plan- curb-gun-violence/story?id=18228472; Dianne Feinstein et al., Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 (Jan. 24, 2013), http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm /files/serve/?File-id= dd2252ao-db96-45cc-96a8-493a2e348c6d. 2. The NICS program is operated by the FBI, which maintains a database of persons prohibited from purchasing firearms by 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) (2006). This database is then accessed electronically to approve each individual firearms transfer at feder- ally licensed firearms dealers. See FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM (NICS) (April 2012), available at http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/general-information/nics-overview 3. These three features are common to the Obama Administration proposal and the proposed legislation of Sen. Dianne Feinstein. THE WHITE HOUSE, Now IS THE TIME: THE PRESIDENT'S PLAN TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN AND OUR COMMUNI- TIES BY REDUCING GUN VIOLENCE (Jan. 16, 2013), available at http://www 10