“HR 8 will be on the Senate floor and we will see everyone’s position,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of the 2021 Bipartisan Background Check Act, which would expand background checks for all sales or transfers of firearms in the country. “No more thoughts and prayers. One vote is what we need. One vote.”
“I don’t think we should accept that there are no 60 votes in the Senate for universal background checks,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, on Thursday. “So much has changed. The political power of the movement against armed violence is infinitely stronger, the (National Rifle Association) is a shell of itself, so many Republican members came to me and expressed their willingness to give it a new look.”
“We will see the position of the people and maybe get the votes and, if not, we will meet like a caucus and find out how we are going to do that,” said Schumer.
If bipartisan legislation efforts fail, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, also a Democrat from Connecticut and another of the bill’s advocates, told CNN last month that some Democrats are already “thinking” about using a procedural tactic to circumvent any Republican opposition. The Senate called for budget reconciliation.
Due to Senate rules, however, to follow this path, all items of the bill must pass a specific test by the Senate parliamentarian that proves a substantial impact on the budget – known as the Byrd Rule.
Senators can challenge the parliamentarian’s decisions and vote to waive Byrd’s rule, but they would need a 60-vote majority to do so and this is highly unlikely.
“Arguably, there are fees involved or possibly budgetary or fiscal implications,” Blumenthal told CNN about potential weapons legislation. However, realistically, he said that this path would be a serious “difficult” fight, as demonstrated last month when the congressman dealt a coup against Democrats, deciding against including a $ 15 federal minimum wage in the relief project. from Covid.
The previous expanded history check effort failed
The Senate was close to passing more background checks after Sandy Hook’s mass shooting in 2012.
In 2013, a bipartisan effort between Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, and Senator Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, resulted in a bill that would have expanded background checks to include private sales at arms fairs and all Internet sales, while continuing to exempt most sales from family and friends. The Manchin-Toomey plan was less robust than what then President Barack Obama had originally proposed, but it still received Obama’s support.
Now all eyes are on Manchin and Toomey, again.
The 2013 Manchin-Toomey bill allowed individuals to sell their firearms to family, friends and other acquaintances without a background check.
The Bipartisan Background Check Act passed by the House on Thursday has a more specific exemption for arms transfers between family members without a background check.
It requires background checks for sales or transfers from person to person, just as it is currently done for commercial sales. However, there is an exception that allows family members to present a weapon without a background check and another exception that allows you to temporarily transfer a weapon to a friend without a background check in certain cases, such as hunting.
Manchin has not yet said whether he would support the House bill, but he signaled that restrictions that go beyond the requirement of background checks on sales of commercial weapons, some of which are included in the House bill, can be very broad.
“It is commercial – not universal, there is a difference,” Manchin told reporters on Tuesday, referring to the focus of his legislation with Toomey. “Commercial means just closing loopholes at gun fairs and on the internet. Law enforcement gun owners will not sell their guns to strangers. That’s how we are taught. We are not going to lend our weapons to strangers or even family members … We’re not doing this, so don’t take away all my rights. “
“I just think we are living in a different world than 2013. So much has changed. The policy around us is fundamentally different,” said Murphy of the 2013 legislation.
“I just think you can’t compare 2013 to 2021. I think there are a lot of Republican senators who are thinking of voting on a proposal that will allow them to get it right,” he said.
On Thursday, Toomey told CNN that he does not know whether he will vote for the current project.
“I am in the same position as I have been for years,” said Toomey. “I support the performance of background checks to capture all commercial sales.”
“I don’t know what is going to be discussed,” said Toomey, adding that he had no idea if there was Republican support for the project.