Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Key senators reach deal on background checks for gun buyers
Prospects for a gun control bill's passage in the Senate in coming weeks got a boost today with a bipartisan agreement on background checks for gun buyers. This is great news for those who believe too many unqualified citizens hold a gun. In the past, people have attended gun and trade shows because, for whatever reason, they were able to purchase guns without a license. With this new agreement in place, about 40% of people will have to find a new way to acquire guns. Now hopefully we will be able to ban automatic machine guns and rapid fire assault rifles.
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Its good to see that there will more restrictions on who can own and buy guns but from what I gathered from the article it is closing some loopholes but leaving other open. They are making it so there have to be background checks at gun show but there is no need for a background check between "friends and family". This seems like a wide ranging loophole that leaves a lot of room for people selling guns to people they hardly know. Also, with many senators threatening to filibuster the vote, it will be a surprise to see any progress made within a week or two. This doesn't seem like enough restrictions to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people but it is a start.
ReplyDeleteThe difficulty of passing this bill has its roots in money. Similar to passing a ban on cigarettes, Congress has a lot of trouble banning an item when the item is part of a wealthy and money-rich industry, like the gun and tobacco industries. I agree that guns should be highly regulated, but it's no easy task to shore up a multi-billion dollar industry.
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