The U.S. House of Representatives passed a universal gun control background check bill Thursday (March 11) that would criminalize private gun sales in addition to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background checks.
The proposal, known as the Bipartisan Background Check Act of 2021 (H.R. 8), passed the House Thursday by a vote of 227-203. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that the Senate will vote on the bill.
“When they last sent it to us, it went to Mitch McConnell’s legislative graveyard (meaning not having had a chance to vote on it),” Schumer said at a news conference, “the legislative graveyard is over. H.R. 8 will be voted on in the Senate and we will see where everyone stands. No more hopes and prayers are needed. A vote is what we need, a vote, not thoughts and prayers.”
The Biden administration said Monday (March 8) that it “looks forward” to working with Congress to strengthen the federal gun background check system and implement “common sense” steps to reduce gun violence, and urged the House to pass two other restrictions.
H.R. 8 would expand retail point-of-sale background checks and cover private outlets, and the bill would prohibit unchecked private firearms sales and second-hand transfers. Conservative media outlet Breitbart decried the fact that it would criminalize an individual who sells a small revolver to a lifelong neighbor unless that neighbor first undergoes a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) check conducted by the FBI.
California Rep. Mike Thompson (R) introduced the bill into Congress on March 2, and Thompson claimed that his bill had the support of “90 percent of Americans,” but did not provide a survey to support that figure.
The House had passed H.R. 8 in early 2019, but it was never passed by the Republican-controlled Senate. With Democrats holding the current Senate, the legislation will be discussed this week.
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