Congressional Democrats roll out new gun-purchase background check legislation

Congressional Democrats on Tuesday announced new legislation to expand gun-purchase background checks to cover online and private sales, looking to push the gun issue early in the new Congress after taking control of the House.

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was gravely wounded exactly eight years ago by a gunman at a constituent event in Arizona, was at the Capitol on Tuesday to aid Democrats in their push.

“We must never stop fighting — fight, fight, fight,” Ms. Giffords said. “Be bold. Be courageous. The nation’s counting on you.”

Rep. Mike Thompson, California Democrat, rolled out a new version of a bill he’s pushed in the past that would expand the checks to cover more private transactions.

“This is a bold statement about where we stand as a Congress — Democrats and Republicans,” Mr. Thompson said.

There are five Democrats and five Republicans who are original co-sponsors of the bill, which is intended to expand the checks to cover essentially all gun sales.

Federally licensed gun dealers are currently required to conduct the checks through a national FBI database, while private sellers are not.

The bill includes some exceptions for the transactions that would be covered, including transfers between family members.

Senate Democrats on Tuesday also announced they are reintroducing legislation that would require federal background checks for all gun sales, including those at private shows and online. There would also be some exceptions, like transactions between family members and transfers between law enforcement officials.

“Voters stood up this fall and made it clear they want Congress to do more to keep our kids safe from gun violence,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat. “We need to listen to them and pass our bill to save lives.”

While the Democrat-led House might be able to pass the new gun legislation, it’s unlikely to make it though the GOP-controlled Senate.

President Trump has also been supportive of gun rights, though his administration’s recent move to ban “bump stock”-type devices that allow semiautomatic rifles to mimic the fire of fully automatic weapons has prompted legal action from gun-rights advocates upset with the move.

Democrats acknowledge the long odds for new gun controls to actually become law, but they say the 2018 elections and the student-driven activism after last year’s Parkland, Florida, school shooting fundamentally changed the politics of the issue, after the party had shied away from aggressively pursuing new controls in recent decades.

Gun-rights advocates, meanwhile, point out that tighter background checks alone wouldn’t have prevented many recent mass shootings.

Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said he shares his colleagues’ conviction that Congress should find effective ways to prevent violence and promote public safety, but said the new legislation isn’t a solution on those fronts.

“Recent shootings reflect failures not of existing policy — background checks are already in place and working across the board — but failures in its implementation,” said Mr. Collins, Georgia Republican. “This legislation shows us that they are less interested in adopting solutions to prevent mass violence than in promoting gun control.”