WASHINGTON – Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) was reintroduced universal gun background check legislation that is overwhelmingly popular with the American public – but not with the majority of US senators.
Federal law requires criminal background checks for firearms sales only at licensed dealers. Private sales between individuals, including at gun shows or online, are not subject to background checks.
Polls over the years have continuously displayed that around 90% of Americans support requiring criminal background checks for all firearms sales. But it’s unlikely any Republican senators will support Murphy’s bill.
“This is one of those wild issues that 90% of the American people have made up their minds about and we still can’t move the proposal through the Senate,” Murphy told HuffPost. “This is the holy gun policy: It’s very popular, and it makes a big difference.”
Federal law prohibits certain people from buying guns, including those who have been convicted of a violent crime or who are subject to restraining orders. But without a background check, there’s nothing stopping him from buying a gun. according to one estimate from 2017Almost a quarter of new gun owners buy their weapons without a background check.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a member of the Senate Republican leadership team, told HuffPost that he would “clearly” oppose the universal background check bill as well as senators who favor protecting Second Amendment rights. Not all Democrats will support Bill Murphy, either; Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) declined to become sponsors. last year’s versionand Manchin told HuffPost this week that his position has not changed.
With Republicans in control of the House for at least the next two years, universal background checks will likely remain a nonstarter.
But Congress has not been completely paralyzed on gun violence, which in recent years has eclipsed car accidents as the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. Last year, Murphy worked with Republicans on legislation that, among other things, expanded background checks for gun. buyers between 18 and 21 years old. At The FBI told HuffPost this week which has been added to the sale of dozens of guns so far.
The 2022 Act also changes the legal definition of who is considered “out of business” selling guns and therefore must register with the federal government as a firearms dealer. The text asserts that a person is a seller if the “underlying intention is the sale or disposition of a firearm in particular one for monetary gain.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of Murphy’s main Republican partners in last year’s bill, said that the language change “basically does” what Murphy is now trying to do with the universal background check bill.
“If they’re in the business of selling firearms, they’re going to be charged with a crime” if they don’t do background checks, Cornyn said.
Gun control group Giffords, which celebrated the new law, called the revisions to the gun dealer language only minor changes: “The loophole that allows unlicensed sellers to sell guns without background checks will remain open,” Giffords said. said on the website.