Gun Deal Calls for Tougher Background Checks

Conservative senators from both parties are in favor of expanding background checks for gun buyers and bolstering those who support stronger restrictions, including required background checks at gun shows. 

The compromise between Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Patrick Toomey (R-Penn.) boosted the chances that the Senate will agree to broaden required background checks, a step that gun control groups laud as an effective way to keep weapons from criminals and the mentally ill. 

Though widely touted as a common sense measure, there are questions by gun advocates about whether the legislation is a precursor to even stricter measures. 

“I think the devil is in the details,” said Robert Cottrol, a George Washington University Law School professor and expert on gun issues, about the legislation. “One of the issues that makes it so controversial is would a background check include a [gun] registration, and the other is, are you gun eligible [on a database that says you have a felony or mental health issue].” 

In an interview with CBS, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) asserted his position as one of 14 Republican senators who say they will filibuster gun-control legislation. Risch said in the interview that background checks are difficult to support because the system doesn’t work.

The background check system for buying firearms and explosives came into effect under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993. It was enacted by the FBI in 1998 and can instantly determine if a prospective buyer is eligible. Before making a final sale, the gun seller calls the FBI or another agency to make sure the person has no criminal record or isn’t otherwise ineligible to make the purchase. 

Over 100 million checks have been made in the past 10 years. According to the FBI, over 700,000 checks have led to purchase denials. 

Under the agreement by Manchin and Toomey, background checks would be expanded to all for-profit transactions, including sales at gun shows and online, with records kept by licensed gun dealers who would handle the paperwork. Noncommercial transactions, such as between relatives, would be exempt. The current system of background checks only applies to sales by the 55,000 federally licensed firearms dealers throughout the United States.

The agreement also contains provisions expanding firearms rights, and that concerns gun control supporters. Some restrictions on transporting guns across state lines would be eased, and gun dealers could conduct business in states where they don’t live.

“Truly the events at Newtown changed us all,” said Manchin, citing the Connecticut town where December’s murders of 20 first-graders and six educators propelled gun control to the top rank of national issues. “Americans on both sides of the debate can and must find common ground.”

Emotion, always prominent in the gun issue, cropped up late April 10 when Manchin met with relatives of the Newtown victims in his Senate office, telling them “This will not be in vain.” He became choked up when a reporter asked about the impact of the family members’ visit, saying, “I’m a parent, a grandparent ... and I had to do something.”

The agreement makes it all but certain that the Senate will reject a conservative blockade and vote Thursday to begin debating Democrat gun legislation. That bill would also toughen laws against illicit firearms sales and provide a small increase in school security aid.

Underscoring that the fight was far from over, the NRA issued a statement opposing the Manchin-Toomey accord. The group, which has fought most of Obama’s gun proposals and has about 5 million members, said the nation’s mental health system and gang violence should be the main focus.

“Expanding background checks at gun shows will not prevent the next shooting, will not solve violent crime, and will not keep our kids safe in schools,” the NRA said, adding, “The sad truth is that no background check would have prevented the tragedies in Newtown, Aurora, or Tucson. We need a serious and meaningful solution that addresses crime in cities like Chicago, addresses mental health deficiencies, while at the same time protecting the rights of those of us who are not a danger to anyone.”

On a day when first lady Michelle Obama was visiting a violence-plagued high school in Chicago, the Obamas’ hometown, the NRA said, “President Obama should be as committed to dealing with the gang problem that is tormenting honest people in his hometown as he is to blaming law-abiding gun owners for the acts of psychopathic murderers.”

Also criticizing the deal was conservative Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who participated in a failed effort with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), to reach a separate compromise. Coburn called the Manchin-Toomey effort a “good faith but unworkable plan” that “prioritizes collecting records over protecting citizens.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) repeated his view that the Senate should act, saying, “It’s one thing for two members to come to some agreement. It doesn’t substitute the will for the other 98 members.”

In a written statement, Obama said he’d prefer stronger language than the compromise, but he said it represented progress.

“It recognizes that there are good people on both sides of this issue, and we don’t have to agree on everything to know that we’ve got to do something to stem the tide of gun violence,” he said.

Other highlights of Obama’s gun agenda—including bans on assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines—seem to have little chance of winning approval in the Senate, let alone the House.

Polls show more than 8 in 10 people back expanded background checks. Even so, the fight will be difficult in both chambers, especially the House, where increasing numbers of district lines are drawn to protect incumbents, said James Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police.

“They’re not going to have a constituency in every instance that is champing for that bill,” said Pasco, whose group has backed the drive for expanded background checks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.