Politics & Government

Should Background Checks be Required at Gun Shows, Online and Through Classified Ads?

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) is pushing for expanded background checks.

Despite a failed effort in the U.S. Senate two weeks ago to expand firearm background checks, the Congressman representing Benicia, Pinole, Hercules and elsewhere is continuing to push for all commercial gun sales to require a background check.

“We won’t take ‘no’ for an answer when it comes to passing commonsense laws that keep guns from criminals, terrorist and the dangerously mentally ill," Reps. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) and Pete King (R-NY) said in a joint statement. "This debate isn’t over. The American people deserve for this bill to be signed into law."

Thompson, King and other members of Congress are supporting a bill that would require background checks for anyone buying a firearm at a gun show, online or through a classified ad.

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"By closing these loopholes, the legislation greatly reduces the number of places that criminals and the dangerously mentally ill can buy guns," a press release states. "Right now, a criminal can buy a firearm at a table or out of someone’s trunk at a gun show, over the Internet, or through a newspaper ad because no background check is required for these kinds of sales."

The press release says the bill will "strengthen the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners":

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The legislation also strengthens the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners by banning the government from creating a federal registry and makes the misuse of records a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. It provides reasonable exceptions for family and friend transfers and allows active military personnel to buy guns in the state they are stationed. It lets gun owners use a state concealed carry permit issued within the last five years in lieu of a background check and permits interstate handgun sales from licensed dealers.  

The bill also improves the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) by incentivizing states to improve reporting of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill and by directing future grant funds toward better record-sharing systems. The bill will also reduce federal funds to states that do not comply. 

The NRA has opposed an expansion of background checks in the past. In an April 10 statement, the organization said "we have a broken mental health system that is not going to be fixed with more background checks at gun shows."

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What do you think should be done on this issue? Should background check requirements be expanded, or should they stay the way they are now? Tell us in the comments section below.


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