Bipartisan gun bill ready in House should Senate act

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena

Rep. Mike Thompson, a gun-owning Vietnam veteran hand-picked by House minority leader Nancy Pelosi to forge a bipartisan agreement on gun legislation in the House, unveiled a companion background check bill Tuesday that has bipartisan support.

That puts pressure on House Republican leaders to bring up gun legislation if it can pass the Senate.The Thompson bill is identical to legislation by conservative Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey and conservative West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin that would expand background checks for gun buyers. That legislation still doesn’t have the 60 votes needed to break a Senate filibuster. But the compromise is about all that’s left of gun control legislation in the Senate, aside from a bill by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that would expand a $40 million security grant program for school districts. Schools could NOT use the grants to install armed guards, Boxer spokesman Zac Coile clarifies. It can be used for “reinforced doors, classroom locks, lighting, fencing, security assessments and safety training for school personnel and students.”
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., plans to propose her ban on assault weapons and limits on high-capacity magazines as an amendment to any gun legislation that gets to the Senate floor, but these face significant opposition and are not expected to pass.

Thompson teamed with New York Republican Peter King on the bill, also with two other Pennsylvania Republicans,Mike Fitzpatrick and Pat Meehan. Their support illustrates the split between rural and suburban Republicans on guns.

“Background checks are the first line of defense against criminals and the dangerously mentally ill getting guns,” Thompson and King said in a statement. “This bill is comprehensive, it is enforceable, it will save lives, and it will protect the rights of law abiding Americans to own guns.”

The bill would “expand the existing background check system to cover all commercial firearm sales, including those at gun shows, over the internet or in classified ads. It provides reasonable exceptions for family and friend transfers….background checks would be conducted though a federally licensed dealer. Licensed dealers will run background checks on potential buyers and keep records of sales in the same manner as they have for more than 40 years. Failure to conduct a background check on is punishable by up to five years in prison.”

It also provides incentives to states to improve reporting of criminals and the “dangerous mentally ill” to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and would cut funding for states that do not comply.

Supporters picked up a key ally last week from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, which bills itself as the second-largest gun rights organization in the country after the National Rifle Association.

Carolyn Lochhead