If congress actually passes a law requiring private gun sales background checks what...

[Logical]

should the penalty be for bypassing the background check and selling a gun to someone?

Felony? Jail? Fine?

Also, seems like it would be almost impossible to catch someone still doing private sales unless there are sting operations. Two friends could do it and no one would ever know.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Look at straw purchases... same penalties for starters

[Robb]

2. Re-task the marijuana patrol, see how many they can catch.

I'm not convinced this will be difficult to police.

And penalty should include fines, jail, and being prohibited from owning firearms.

[dairydog91]

5. Umm, the "marijuana patrol" is not exactly a rousing success story.

I'm not convinced this will be difficult to police.
300+ million items, most unregistered, with no starting point to determine who legally owns them or where they are? Sounds difficult to me.

[The Magistrate]

3. Felony, Sir

In addition, should the gun come into police hands as result of a crime committed employing it, the last known legal owner should be considered an accomplice to whatever crime the gun was involved in.

[jmg257]

4. Background checks should be accompanied by registration.

Felony should be a good start...2 years mandatory.

[petronius]

6. There is already a law prohibiting licensed dealers from bypassing/skipping

the background check (18 USC 922t). The penalty appears to be a maximum of one year in prison (18 USC 922.a.5) and/or a fine.

On the other hand, knowing sale to a prohibited person comes with a maximum of 10 years, and knowingly making false statements on the forms gets a maximum of 5...

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Felony trafficking for most cases, and yes, there should be stings, and lots of them

This is how legal guns enter the illicit market. This is the pipeline for the gangs and felons. We should have major ATF task forces running stings on the gun dealers and anyone else who is feeding guns to the illicit market.

Federal prison time. Real felony.

They're fucking killing us in Chicago, these "friends" selling guns through untrackable, no background private sales.

They're fucking killing us.

[Earth_First]

8. Charge 'em with a felony...

It just so happens that felons can no longer own firearms, so maybe the threat of losing one's firearms will be enough of a deterrant.

However, methinks not...

At any rate, it will take some firearms owners off the books.