The newly minted House Democratic majority is eager to advance gun control legislation after years of being sidelined in the minority. But they are not starting with the ambitious proposals many Democrats and their base voters are seeking, such as a ban on certain assault-style weapons and ammunition.
Instead, Democrats aim to pick up GOP votes on legislation that would broaden background checks for gun purchases, which has popular support.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., plans to bring up the measure for a vote.
The bill is authored by Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Pete King, R-N.Y. It would broaden the nation’s background check system, which applies to licensed firearms dealers, to include currently excluded commercial firearm sales, such as those that occur at gun shows or over the Internet or in classified ads. The bill provides “reasonable exceptions” for firearm transfers between family and friends. In addition to King, four Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors.
The House Judiciary Committee advanced the measure along party lines last week, a day before the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 students and staff.
Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said the House bill would address a serious flaw in the background check system. According to one study, 22 percent of of gun sales were not subjected to a background check.
“We do not know whether they were felons, fugitives, or domestic abusers, or seriously mentally ill,” Nadler said before the panel voted on the measure. “It’s time to close this dangerous loophole.”
Rep. Doug Collins of Colorado, who is the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, argued against the measure, which he said would be ineffective without a gun registry, citing a white paper published by the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the Justice Department. Neither Collins nor any GOP lawmakers back a gun registry.
Collins called the measure deceptive, accusing the authors of the legislation of “peddling false hope to both activists and victims of gun violence.”
The National Rifle Association opposes the bill, arguing that many criminals acquire firearms illegally and so would never be subjected to a background check even if those checks were expanded.
The handful of Republican co-sponsors point to public sentiment in their favor. Polls show strong public backing for universal background checks and widespread belief that it would increase public safety.
“The overwhelming majority of Americans want to see action, and we owe it to the victims and their families to prevent such tragedies from occurring again,” King said.
The measure is poised for easy passage in the House. Democrats in the lower chamber hope Republican support, however small, will pressure the GOP-run Senate to take up the bill.
That, however, is unlikely. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has never called up a gun control bill. He told the Lexington Herald-Leader last year, “I don’t think at the federal level there’s much that we can do other than appropriate funds.”
The Senate last attempted to pass a universal background check measure in 2013 when Democrats ran the majority. It failed, thanks to opposition from Republicans and “no” votes from four red-state Democrats.
But Senate Democrats aren’t giving up. In January, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of the Senate’s leading advocates for gun control, introduced a companion bill to the House background check measure. It has 41 co-sponsors — none of them Republicans.
