House passes gun sales background checks bills
H.R. 1446 would close ‘Charleston loophole’
WASHINGTON – The House passed two bills Thursday that would tighten gun sales regulations, sending the measures to a divided Senate.
H.R. 8 would expand background checks on individuals seeking to purchase or transfer firearms, and the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021 would close the “Charleston loophole,” a gap in federal law that lets gun sales proceed without a completed background check if three businesses days have passed.
“This bill is a critical step toward preventing gun violence and saving lives,” Rep. Mike Thompson, D-calif., who sponsored the bill, said before its passage.
That bill, titled the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, passed 227-203. It received eight Republican votes, and one Democrat voted against. In 2019, the bill was passed with eight votes from Republicans, five of whom cosponsored the package.
The other bill passed Thursday, H.R. 1446, is linked to a shooting in 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina, where a white supremacist used the loophole to obtain firearms he used to kill nine Black people during a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church. The bill would extend the initial background check review period from three to 10 days.
The bill, which was passed 219-210, with two Democrats opposed and two Republicans in support, was written by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., who called it “an important step Congress must take to address the epidemic of gun violence in this country.”
“If people can’t be safe in Bible study, then they can’t be safe anywhere,” Clyburn said Thursday morning.
H.R. 8, a background checks package meant to enhance reviews of those seeking to acquire firearms, would not create a firearms registry or other federal mechanisms for review.
Instead, the legislation would expand the cases in which a background check is required for the sale or transfer of a firearm, including for private individuals and groups selling or transferring firearms, closing the “Gun Show Loophole.” The requirements would apply to online sales.
The bill would make it illegal for anyone who is not a licensed firearm importer, manufacturer or dealer to trade or sell firearms to another person; current federal law requires background checks only for licensed gun dealers.
Nonlicensed individuals who would like to sell or trade weapons could do so through a licensed firearms dealer who would run the necessary background checks.
As with much legislation today, the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where Republican lawmakers largely remain obstinate to any gun control measures. The bill passed with a few Republican votes, signaling there may be support among the GOP for such measures.
People could still temporarily trade and share firearms at shooting ranges, on hunting trips and when it is “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm” under the new regulations.