Toomey sponsors bill that enhances background checks
Four U.S. senators, including Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey, announced a bipartisan gun safety bill on Monday that would require federal authorities to alert state law enforcement of individuals who don’t pass national background checks.
The legislation would help states that rely on the FBI for background checks to pinpoint the people who try to buy firearms and are denied. There are currently 37 states, plus the District of Columbia, that “generally are not aware when prohibited persons fail background checks run by the FBI,” according to a statement released by the senators.
Under the current laws, federal officials are notified when individuals fail a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. But rarely are those people prosecuted. If the senators’ NICS Denial Notification Act
passes, state authorities could decide whether to investigate, prosecute or “keep an eye on” them.
“We can make progress on gun safety while respecting the Second Amendment rights of American citizens, including better enforcing existing gun laws and responding to warning signs that we get of criminal behavior,” Mr. Toomey said in a statement. “This bipartisan bill is a critical step forward in helping to ensure that our communities can be safe from criminals.”
The bill, which would also require the Department of Justice to publish an annual report detailing the statistics of background check denials, is co-sponsored by Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla. It comes amid an intensive nationwide discussion about gun control, led by a group of students who survived the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Gun-rights activist Kim Stolfer, president of the Pennsylvania-based Firearms Owners Against Crime, called the legislation “long overdue” in regulating how background check information is handled.
“It’s clear that if we’re going to have a national background check system, you can’t have gaps in who knows what about denials,” Mr. Stolfer said. “I think Parkland, Florida, has illustrated what happens when government screws up.”
The bill is backed by several gun control advocacy groups, including Everytown for Gun Safety.
Jeff Dempsey, program director for CeaseFire PA, said the legislation is a step toward making sure individuals who shouldn’t have firearms can’t get them.
“However, this is just a real drop in the bucket to some of the issues that we know are outstanding,” Mr. Dempsey said.
Mr. Toomey has been working across the aisle with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to revive a separate bill that would expand background checks to purchases online and at gun shows. Opposed by the National Rifle Association, the bill has failed twice since the senators introduced it after the 2012 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
In a meeting with sponsors of that bill last week at the White House, President Donald Trump said it wouldn’t go far enough to address the problem of mass shootings.
When Mr. Toomey told the president his bill wouldn’t raise the minimum age to buy an assault weapon, Mr. Trump responded, “You know why. Because you’re afraid of the NRA.”