The Democratic-led House approved another piece of legislation to broaden federal gun-control legislation Thursday. The bill gives the FBI more time to do background checks on gun purchasers. It comes a day after the chamber passed a bill extending the checks to private firearms sales, which advocates call the most significant gun control measure in more than two decades.
Both measures face long odds at becoming law.
The vote on the first bill, dubbed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, passed largely along party lines 240-190, with Democrats who control the House cheering as they carried the legislation across the finish line.
At a press conference ahead of its passage, the bill’s sponsor, Bay Area Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson, called it a “historic time,” adding that expanded background checks would “help save lives.” Thompson highlighted the difficulty of getting a gun control vote during the previous eight years, when the chamber was controlled by a Republican majority.
“We were not able to get a single hearing or have a single vote in the House under the last majority. It’s a new day,” Thompson said.
The second bill, approved on Thursday, would extend the time sellers that have to wait before completing a gun sale. Like Wednesday’s measure, it passed largely along party lines — 228-198.
Thursday’s bill seeks to close the “Charleston loophole” that allowed an avowed white supremacist to buy a gun used to kill nine parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston. S.C., in 2015.
Currently, a gun seller has to wait three business days for federal investigators to conduct a background check. Most checks are quick, but incomplete data can sometimes cause a delayed response. If the delay lasts more than three business days, the gun sale can move forward.
The Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019 expands the background check period to 10 days, with the potential to be extended another 10.
Critics of the current system say the Charleston shooter would have been barred from obtaining the gun had investigators had more time to dig into his record and discovered his drug arrest.
But gun rights groups point out that the shooter had the gun for two months before he committed his crime. They say that was more than enough time for the authorities to complete the check and order the confiscation of his newly purchased gun.
An internal FBI review and a federal court judge have criticized the background checkers in that case for failing to follow up in their inquiries.
As NPR reported in 2017, the shooter has been convicted and sentenced to death.
Speaking before the final passage, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the House Majority Whip, acknowledged the widow and daughters of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of those victims in the 2015 massacre, seated in the House Chamber.
He added by the time authorities discovered the shooter should have been ineligible to have the gun, “it was too late.”
“As a result those poor souls lost their lives,” Clyburn said. “Let’s give the FBI, let’s give the authorities enough time to do their jobs. We’ll save lives.”
Most House Republicans did not support the legislation, including Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga.
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