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Factbox: Democrats step up calls for gun legislation as U.S. Congress returns

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reacts after signing the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 on Capitol in Washington, U.S., August 1, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Congress returns from its August recess on Monday, Democratic leaders in Congress are stepping up calls for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, to take action to pass legislation to prevent gun violence.

 

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and other senior Democrats said on Sunday they will gather Monday afternoon to urge McConnell to "end his harmful legislative graveyard" and bring a House-passed bill expanding background checks on gun purchases to the Senate floor as soon as possible.

 

The House Judiciary Committee is also expected to debate additional gun measures this week.

 

McConnell said he would not bring a gun bill to the floor of the Republican-majority Senate unless it had the support of President Donald Trump, a Republican who has not provided details of measures he might support to address gun violence.

 

After a cluster of mass shootings took 36 lives in August, Trump said he favoured action, possibly on tackling mental health issues related to the violence or expanded background checks. The White House has yet to outline any specific proposals.

 

White House officials said the measures might include expediting the death penalty for mass shooters.

 

Republican Roy Blunt, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, on Sunday urged Trump to say what he wants. "The president needs to step up here and set some guidelines for what he would do," Blunt said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

 

Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidates have been floating their own remedies for mass shootings. One of the candidates, Senator Amy Klobuchar, told CNN on Sunday that she would back an immediate ban on assault weapons.

 

Previous attempts to pass gun controls after mass shootings, including in the aftermath of the December 2012 murder of 20 children and six staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have mostly failed in the face of fierce lobbying by the National Rifle Association and other gun groups.

 

Here are some proposals that could be debated in Congress in the coming weeks and months:

 

GUN SALE BACKGROUND CHECKS

The Democratic-led House of Representatives in February passed legislation to expand background checks on gun buyers. A loophole in federal law allows many sales — perhaps as many as one-fifth — over the internet and at gun shows to go unchecked.

 

While the bill was touted as being bipartisan, only eight House Republicans backed it, with 188 voting no. This is one measure Democrats are urging McConnell to bring to the floor of the Republican-controlled Senate.

 

Republican Senator Pat Toomey and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin have been trying to resurrect a somewhat weaker version of the bill, which the Senate defeated in 2013. It exempts from background checks all gun transfers, including sales, between close family members. The House-passed bill only exempts loans and gifts of firearms between such relatives.

 

Also passed by the House in February and stalled in the Senate is a Democratic bill to extend to 10 days, from the current three business days, the amount of time for a background check if information on an individual is incomplete.

 

On Aug. 7, Trump said there was strong support for doing something on background checks but he did not embrace a specific proposal.

 

'RED FLAG’ LEGISLATION

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat on the panel, want to create a federal grant program helping states adopt “red flag” laws. These would allow courts and local law enforcement to remove guns from people deemed a risk to communities.

 

Under the procedure, for example, family members or neighbours of a person thought to have weapons and be a potential danger could tip off authorities, starting the legal process.

 

The House Judiciary Committee is expected to consider two "red flag" proposals this week. Also on its agenda is legislation that would bar individuals convicted of misdemeanour hate crimes from owning firearms.

 

Trump has said he wants to ensure that “mentally unstable, seriously ill people aren’t carrying guns.”

 

COMBATING ‘LIE AND TRY’

Bipartisan Senate legislation would require that state and local law enforcement be quickly notified by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) when someone prohibited from purchasing a gun attempts to do so.

 

Currently, 37 states and the District of Columbia rely on NICS to conduct their background checks on gun sales, while the rest do it themselves.

 

Backers of the bill say “lie and try” incidents can be a warning sign of fresh criminal behaviour by individuals. As with most gun-related bills, there is no certainty that it will make it through Congress.

 

ATTACKING VIOLENT EXTREMISM

The Department of Homeland Security’s “Countering Violent Extremism Grants” program has withered under the Trump administration.

 

The $10 million federal program was aimed at helping state and local government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, work to stop “extremist” groups from engaging in violence, including mass shootings by followers. Shortly after coming to power in 2017, the Trump administration proposed eliminating the program and since then the grants have withered.

 

An El Paso, Texas, shooting in August has sparked some calls in and out of Congress for funding of the DHS office.

 

IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS

Republicans and the gun industry have argued that gun violence is rooted in psychological illness and that federal resources should be oriented toward treatment as a way of preventing mass shootings.

 

“Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” Trump said in a speech to the nation, blaming the violence on “mentally ill monsters.”

 

In the past, congressional Republicans have called for beefing up federal funding of research and treatment of mental illness as a response to gun violence.

 

Their opponents cite studies showing that few mass shootings are tied to mental illness and that focusing on it is a diversion from tighter gun control laws.

 

BANNING SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPONS

For years, gun control advocates have urged the prohibition of semi-automatic assault rifles that fire rapidly and can carry large magazines of ammunition. They were modelled on guns designed for military use.

 

Republicans, some Democrats and the gun lobby have fought off such attempts as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment providing the right to bear arms.

 

On Aug. 7, Trump told reporters there is “no political appetite” for an assault weapons ban.

 

A group of House and Senate Democrats is urging passage of legislation they introduced months ago to ban high-capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, saying these make assault weapons especially lethal. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to consider such legislation this week.

 

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Howard Goller)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-09-09

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[Tug]

Good now got it <deleted> done and stem the slaughter and don’t be quick to assume I’m against the second amendment 

[TopDeadSenter]

33 minutes ago, Tug said:

Good now got it <deleted> done and stem the slaughter and don’t be quick to assume I’m against the second amendment 

Skyrocketing gun crime in western nations with some of the toughest anti-gun controls such as Sweden and England suggest the above statement has a hole in the logic(more of a chasm actually). I would like to include links to prove my above statement but I'm sure that would be deemed off topic so people will have to use google themselves to verify. 

 What I have no evidence of - other than anectodal - is that US citizens feel safer due to being able to protect their loved ones and property. Whereas in nations that went full on crazy and banned people from owning firearms to protect themselves, people live in fear of both armed criminals and also the law after trying to protect themselves(ie Tony Martin).

 Feral humans are the issue here, not the firearm itself.

[stevenl]

8 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Skyrocketing gun crime in western nations with some of the toughest anti-gun controls such as Sweden and England suggest the above statement has a hole in the logic(more of a chasm actually). I would like to include links to prove my above statement but I'm sure that would be deemed off topic so people will have to use google themselves to verify. 

 What I have no evidence of - other than anectodal - is that US citizens feel safer due to being able to protect their loved ones and property. Whereas in nations that went full on crazy and banned people from owning firearms to protect themselves, people live in fear of both armed criminals and also the law after trying to protect themselves(ie Tony Martin).

 Feral humans are the issue here, not the firearm itself.

There is no hope, making up things and ignoring facts like gun deaths, mass shootings etc.

[TopDeadSenter]

3 minutes ago, stevenl said:

There is no hope, making up things and ignoring facts like gun deaths, mass shootings etc.

There is no hope, making things up and ignoring facts like bad dudes using trucks, airplanes, knives, poison, explosives, and instead playing politics and blaming all of societies woes on an inanimate object - a firearm. 

[stevenl]

9 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

There is no hope, making things up and ignoring facts like bad dudes using trucks, airplanes, knives, poison, explosives, and instead playing politics and blaming all of societies woes on an inanimate object - a firearm. 

Would make it a lot more difficult if they were forced to use knifes etc. Not the case though.

[heybruce]

23 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Skyrocketing gun crime in western nations with some of the toughest anti-gun controls such as Sweden and England suggest the above statement has a hole in the logic(more of a chasm actually). I would like to include links to prove my above statement but I'm sure that would be deemed off topic so people will have to use google themselves to verify. 

 What I have no evidence of - other than anectodal - is that US citizens feel safer due to being able to protect their loved ones and property. Whereas in nations that went full on crazy and banned people from owning firearms to protect themselves, people live in fear of both armed criminals and also the law after trying to protect themselves(ie Tony Martin).

 Feral humans are the issue here, not the firearm itself.

"I would like to include links to prove my above statement..."

 

You would like to include a link to prove your statement, but since data shows that the US has over four times the murder rate of England and Sweden you can't.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

[Sujo]

9 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

There is no hope, making things up and ignoring facts like bad dudes using trucks, airplanes, knives, poison, explosives, and instead playing politics and blaming all of societies woes on an inanimate object - a firearm. 

How many intentional plane crashes in US this year?

How many mass murders with trucks in US this year?

How many mass murders by knife in US this year?

How many mass murders by poison in US this year?

How many mass murders by bombing in US this year?

 

How many mass murders by firearm in US this year?

[quandow]

I have yet to hear a convincing argument from 2nd amendment defenders why this isn't a reasonable approach:

[darksidedog]

54 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Skyrocketing gun crime in western nations with some of the toughest anti-gun controls such as Sweden and England suggest the above statement has a hole in the logic(more of a chasm actually).

Gun crime in the overwhelming supposedly civilised countries around the world is almost negligible in comparison to the USA. How many mass shootings can you recall in the UK so far this year? Or the year before? While in America it has become a common event. Stricter gun controls prevent the masses from owning one, which reduces the potential for someone having a bad day to indiscriminately murder loads of other people. The argument the gun is innocent, it is the person to blame becomes irrelevant when the guns aren't out there in the first place. Many Americans and people the world over believe the US has a super serious problem, and cannot fathom why the issue, which probably takes more lives per year than global terrorist acts combined isn't addressed.

Oh yes, that's right! The NRA and the gun makers who have big financial interests, along with an outdated amendment that needs amending.

[JDGRUEN]

Folks, Elections coming up November 2020 with Primaries for many in the American Spring. 

In this regard only a Democrat Leftist or masochistic Republican RINO would vote for gun control and especially those Red Flag proposals that violate nearly half of the first 10 Amendments. 

 

Remember the Current Political Party Structure has changed drastically... 

- Leftist Democrat Cadre Party leading clueless Old School Liberal Sheep around by the nose. Status = Fractured. 

- Republican Party Confused and Spineless Elitist RINOs with almost no membership outside D.C.

- The Trump Party - at least 63 million Strong Loyal Unfaltering Unwaivering Trump Party Members who show up by the thousands about every month at Trump Rallies with overflow crowds staying by the thousands to watch the Rally on big screen TV in the parking lot. 

There are more Trump parking lot supporters when added together after 10 months than the 20 oddball Democrat Primary contenders could muster in those same ten months. 

There will be no new gun control measures passed into law in 2019 or 2020. Oh and Trump will have a TWO Billion Dollar Campaign War Chest. 

 

[metisdead]

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[new2here]

I’m a gun owner and gun user (sport/target shooting) and a strong supporter of constitutional rights (as opposed to laws/statues)...

That said... I am finding it ever more difficult to square my support for the “right” to bear arms... and what appears to be an ever increasing frequency so-called mass shootings... and the impact on families and communities.

Part of me thinks that having something like universal background checks before buying (regardless of the sales channel), having gun possession prohibited for those who have been convicted of X crimes and those that have been properly diagnosed with X types of mental disorders is both good and the right thing to do..

.... but... I am also equally uneasy if you will.. about the notion of “give-an-inch, take-a-foot” in that by allowing even what I or others think of as “common sense” gun “controls” or “restrictions” to become law, then “opens the door” and makes it easier for future and further restrictions... and again because we’re talking about one of the few constitutionally defined rights, I am cautious about anything that effects it.


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[kingdong]

9 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Gun crime in the overwhelming supposedly civilised countries around the world is almost negligible in comparison to the USA. How many mass shootings can you recall in the UK so far this year? Or the year before? While in America it has become a common event. Stricter gun controls prevent the masses from owning one, which reduces the potential for someone having a bad day to indiscriminately murder loads of other people. The argument the gun is innocent, it is the person to blame becomes irrelevant when the guns aren't out there in the first place. Many Americans and people the world over believe the US has a super serious problem, and cannot fathom why the issue, which probably takes more lives per year than global terrorist acts combined isn't addressed.

Oh yes, that's right! The NRA and the gun makers who have big financial interests, along with an outdated amendment that needs amending.

Drugs seem to relate to gun deaths,why not make them illegal?

Edited September 9, 2019 by kingdong

[amexpat]

Yes a militia needs to be armed and well regulated. 

 

Waiting periods mandated several days as a "cooling off period".

During those 3-7 days background checks could be run (pre-internet days).

Then came instant background checks. NRA says no waiting period needed. 

 

So now the gun dealer observes: 

 

"You seem quite angry about something. But I see this will be your first felony".

 

"So, you want a high capacity magazine, flash suppresser and silencer with that?" 

You know, so you can defend against burglars, etc. 

[joecoolfrog]

1 hour ago, new2here said:

I’m a gun owner and gun user (sport/target shooting) and a strong supporter of constitutional rights (as opposed to laws/statues)...

That said... I am finding it ever more difficult to square my support for the “right” to bear arms... and what appears to be an ever increasing frequency so-called mass shootings... and the impact on families and communities.

Part of me thinks that having something like universal background checks before buying (regardless of the sales channel), having gun possession prohibited for those who have been convicted of X crimes and those that have been properly diagnosed with X types of mental disorders is both good and the right thing to do..

.... but... I am also equally uneasy if you will.. about the notion of “give-an-inch, take-a-foot” in that by allowing even what I or others think of as “common sense” gun “controls” or “restrictions” to become law, then “opens the door” and makes it easier for future and further restrictions... and again because we’re talking about one of the few constitutionally defined rights, I am cautious about anything that effects it.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Thank you for an intelligent and balanced post.

[joecoolfrog]

3 hours ago, JDGRUEN said:

Folks, Elections coming up November 2020 with Primaries for many in the American Spring. 

In this regard only a Democrat Leftist or masochistic Republican RINO would vote for gun control and especially those Red Flag proposals that violate nearly half of the first 10 Amendments. 

 

Remember the Current Political Party Structure has changed drastically... 

- Leftist Democrat Cadre Party leading clueless Old School Liberal Sheep around by the nose. Status = Fractured. 

- Republican Party Confused and Spineless Elitist RINOs with almost no membership outside D.C.

- The Trump Party - at least 63 million Strong Loyal Unfaltering Unwaivering Trump Party Members who show up by the thousands about every month at Trump Rallies with overflow crowds staying by the thousands to watch the Rally on big screen TV in the parking lot. 

There are more Trump parking lot supporters when added together after 10 months than the 20 oddball Democrat Primary contenders could muster in those same ten months. 

There will be no new gun control measures passed into law in 2019 or 2020. Oh and Trump will have a TWO Billion Dollar Campaign War Chest. 

 

So there you have it , votes and dogma are more important than lives. People get the society they deserve !

[heybruce]

23 hours ago, kingdong said:

Drugs seem to relate to gun deaths,why not make them illegal?

What is this relation between gun deaths and drugs?  Is drug use in the US significantly different than drug use in other developed nations that have a small fraction of the gun violence of the US?

[MAGA 2020]

Shall not be infringed.