WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – During National Gun Violence Survivor’s Week, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are making a renewed push for a bipartisan universal background check bill.
A Democrat and a Republican are teaming up to push for universal background checks for gun sales.
“Every day, 30 people are killed by someone using a gun. And if you add suicides and accidental deaths by gun, it goes up to 100 people a day,” Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) said.
Guns are now the number one cause of death for children, which is why California Congressman Mike Thompson and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick say passing new federal background check legislation is urgent.
“Every day that passes by that this is not the law of the land is a day that more lives are put at risk unnecessarily,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) said.
The lawmakers say their bill won’t infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens and instead closes loopholes that make it easier for criminals to get guns.
Rep. Fitzpatrick says the bill will also help with the mass shooting crisis in the U.S. and “will make sure that firearms are kept out of the hands of domestic abusers, out of the hands of felons and out of the hands of the mentally ill.”
“It’s going to be at the top of my list of asks of leadership – to just give it a floor vote,” Fitzpatrick said.
But even if enough Republicans help pass the legislation in the House, it’s likely doomed in the Senate.
“The only corner in America where background checks are not bipartisan is over on the floor of the United States Senate,” Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) said.
Still, Thompson says it’s only a matter of time until universal background checks become law, but stresses time is of the essence.
Democrats are also introducing legislation to ban assault weapons, but that bill will be even harder for Congress to pass.
