Gun laws: Calls for action come with legislators out on recess
WASHINGTON — As America reels from multiple mass shootings, Congress is out of D.C. until midSeptember.
But plenty of lawmakers — including several from the Bay Area — are looking to build momentum for action on guns during the recess, hoping to find some way to finally break through decades of inaction on gun violence.
House Democrats are hoping to spend the month increasing pressure on Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow votes on legislation the House already passed, including background check legislation authored by Rep. Mike
Thompson.
The St. Helena Democrat is the chairman of Congress’ Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, and circulated a letter Tuesday for his colleagues to sign, urging McConnell to act. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than half the House Democrats had signed, with more considering it.
The letter, obtained from a Democratic aide who was not authorized to release it publicly, asks McConnell to call the Senate back into session over recess to vote on the bills the House passed in February.
“This inaction must stop,” Thompson wrote. “We know background checks save lives. Every day background checks stop more than 170 felons and 50 domestic abusers from getting a gun. Any delay to pass commonsense gun violence prevention legislation only increases the chances that more innocent people in America may suffer from the tragic and needless loss caused by gun violence.”
Thompson’s bill would expand the background check requirement to those buying firearms in private sales. Those would include gun shows and online sales, a growing share of gun transactions in the U.S. that are not covered by current laws.
That was passed along with a bill by Rep. Jim Clyburn, DS.C., to close the “Charleston loophole” — extending the deadline to complete the background check to 10 days from the current three. Its name is a reference to the 2015 church shootings in Charleston, S.C., in which nine worshipers were killed. The shooter got his gun because the check was not completed before the threeday deadline expired.
The fresh push on the issue comes after the fatal shooting last month at the Gilroy Garlic Festival that killed three people, and attacks in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend that killed 31 others.
House Democrats have been debating what to do while out of town. In a caucuswide call for lawmakers Monday, some advocated either bringing the entire House back early or having the Judiciary Committee convene before the September end of recess to work on gun violenceprevention measures, according to two lawmakers who were on the call.
But leadership pushed back, saying the focus should be promoting legislation the House already has passed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was in touch with victims’ families and they were calling for action in the Senate, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private call.
“The president and Mitch McConnell have to feel the public sentiment on this,” the San Francisco Democrat told her colleagues. “We have a golden opportunity to save lives.”
In addition to the background check legislation, other bills that could be considered include socalled red flag laws that would enable law enforcement to temporarily remove guns from a person deemed a risk to themselves or others, a ban on highcapacity magazines and banning all assaultstyle weapons.
In the GOPcontrolled Senate, the path forward is unclear. Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., who chairs the Judiciary Committee that would weigh any gun control bills, said he is focused on red flag legislation. He’s held a hearing on the subject and he and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, DConn., have been working on legislation, but have not introduced a bill.
In a statement Monday, Graham said he and Blumenthal would release something “in the very near future” that would create a grant program to spur states to enact red flag laws. President Trump also called for such legislation after the shootings.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, has already introduced a similar red flag bill, which has 27 cosponsors. On Monday, she called for the Senate to vote on her bill, the House bills and to reinstate the assault weapons ban she originally authored in the ’90s that expired in 2004.
“In just one week, 34 people lost their lives in three mass shootings,” she said. “Now is the time for decisive action, now is the time to save lives.”
The House has also passed a reauthorization of the expired Violence Against Women Act that would close the “boyfriend loophole” — a gap in the law that bars abusive spouses from getting firearms, but not dating partners. That provision has faced opposition from the National Rifle Association, and it’s not clear if it will end up in the Senate version of the bill being negotiated by Feinstein and Sen. Joni Ernst, RIowa.
San Mateo Rep. Jackie Speier, herself a survivor of gun violence, took to Twitter Tuesday to call attention to the link between domestic violence and mass shootings.
“It's time we recognize that violence against women and misogyny fuel the actions of some of these mass shooters,” the Democrat wrote.
McConnell has declined to say what he plans to do, only saying in a statement that he encouraged the chairmen of various Senate committees to discuss options “to help protect our communities without infringing on Americans’ constitutional rights.” He did not mention any specific legislation he’d support.
“Senate Republicans are prepared to do our part,” McConnell said. “Only serious, bipartisan, bicameral efforts will enable us to continue this important work and produce further legislation that can pass the Senate, pass the House, and earn the president’s signature. Partisan theatrics and campaigntrail rhetoric will only take us farther away from the progress all Americans deserve.”