Dems Set to Push Major Gun Control Legislation this Week

In a sign of the significance of the Democratic victory in the midterms and a fulfillment of a key campaign promise by the party, the House is set this week to pass a bill that requires federal background checks on all gun sales, including private transactions, Politico reported on Monday.

House Democrats also will vote to extend the deadline for federal background checks from three business days to as many as 20, legislation designed to close a loophole which allowed white supremacist Dylann Roof, who shot to death nine blacks at a church in Charleston in 2015, to purchase a gun despite pending felony drug charges against him.

But in the most high-profile congressional vote on gun control in years, the bills are likely to run into a major roadblock in the GOP-controlled Senate, because both the National Rifle Association and President Donald Trump oppose them, Politico reported.

The NRA said the universal background checks bill “criminalizes the private transfer of firearms and targets law-abiding gun owners for persecution,” adding that it would be unenforceable without establishing a federal gun registration.