Bill calls for more checks at gun shows

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats cited mass shootings in Las Vegas and Newtown, Connecticut, before filing legislation Wednesday to expand background checks on those purchasing weapons at gun shows.

The legislation was filed a day after the FBI released more than 1,500 pages of documents that were part of the investigation into the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that led to the death of 20 first-graders and six educators.

Las Vegas was the scene of the most deadly mass shooting in recent American history on Oct. 1 when Stephen Paddock, 64, used multiple semi-automatic weapons to shoot from a 32nd-floor window into a country music concert below.

Even though Paddock passed background checks to purchase rifles used in the attack, lawmakers said expanding the law to close a loophole on weapons purchases at gun shows, or through private sales, was a common-sense measure.

“We must work to keep gun out of the hands of the seriously mentally ill, people with a history of violence, criminals and terrorists,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-nev., told a Capitol Hill news conference.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-conn., who said current background checks prevented 100,000 people with criminal or mental history from buying weapons.

The FBI documents released this week showed that Adam Lanza, 20, suffered from Asperger’s syndrome and was obsessed with firearms, death and mass shootings. Lanza, who never purchased guns, shot his mother Dec. 14, 2012, before going to the school and murdering children before taking his own life.