A bipartisan bill aimed at improving federal oversight of gun purchases is making its way through Congress. It’s supported in the Senate by Texas Republican John Cornyn and Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy.
The bill would penalize federal agencies that fail to properly report relevant criminal history records of gun buyers. It comes after a shooter in Sutherland Springs, Texas, was able to purchase weapons because the U.S. Air Force had failed to report his convictions for spousal and child abuse.
The NRA is supporting the bill. It’s also supporting another bill in the House that would allow concealed carry reciprocity across state lines. And that has gun control advocates concerned.
Captain Mark Kelly, is a retired U.S. astronaut and husband of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived an attack by a gunman in 2011. Kelly says the reciprocity bill would make the country more dangerous.
“What this law does is it takes the requirements of states that have little, or in the case of 12 states, zero requirements for carrying a loaded gun in public and it imposes those on every other state. And the research that John Hopkins and others have done, have conclusively found that states with loose concealed carry laws have higher rates of violent crime. It’s a fact and it’s not debatable.”
The NRA says the reciprocity bill is its highest legislative priority in Congress.
Both bills could move to the House floor for a vote as early as this week.
