Advocacy groups are pressuring the Biden Administration to enact new gun reforms, in the wake of recent high-profile shootings. But amid a raging debate about the border, and plans for a massive infrastructure package, progress has come to a halt on such reforms.
President Biden did signal that he is open to executive action to create more gun reform, but is meanwhile turning his hopes to Congress to join to pass a reform package as lawmakers face disagreements on gun rights.
“It’s been a hard pull,” said North Bay Congressman Mike Thompson, who has long been an advocate for stronger background checks. “There are those who don’t believe we should do anything in regards to gun violence prevention. And I believe those people are wrong.”
Thompson noted that the House did in fact pass a bill that would increase background checks. The bill, known as H.R.8, would require that anyone who buys a firearm would have to undergo a background check. Thompson said that 90 percent of Americans support the measure.
Meanwhile, many Americans claim that tighter gun laws would take away their right to bear arms. But Thompson, a gun owner himself, said those claims are "not accurate."
“I don’t know a single responsible gun owner that believes that criminals should have guns,” he said. “Nor do I know anyone who believes that someone who is mentally ill, who would be a danger to themselves or others, should have a gun. The only way you can prevent that from happening, or make any headway in preventing it from happening, is if you do background checks.”
As gun rights activists say that such legislation will not work, and that those looking for firearms will find a way to obtain them, Congressman Thompson thinks that surely it will take more than just one law to fix the ongoing gun violence crisis.
“But we know that where gun violence prevention laws have been passed, and background checks have been expanded, it’s made a difference,” Thompson said.
For example, he said, Connecticut strengthened its gun laws after the Sandy Hook massacre that left 28 people dead and two others injured at a Newtown elementary school back in 2012.
Thompson added that each day, roughly 160 felons are stopped from buying a firearm due to failed background checks, and that 50 people with domestic violence records are stopped from doing so every day as well for the same reason.
“The problem is in many states, you can fail a background check at a store, walk out of that store and go to a computer somewhere and buy the same gun online,” Thompson said.
In California, it has been illegal since 2000 to manufacture, import, sell or receive large-capacity magazine, those that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, according to the Department of Justice’s web site.