Politico reports that Democrats are looking for ways to water down their proposals in hopes of getting Republican support on a piece of gun control legislation.
This means shifting from universal background checks to a scenario “increasing the number of online and gun show transactions covered by federal background checks.”
The threshold — i.e., the number of gun sales required to treat a private seller as a licensed sell, thereby requiring a background check — remains unannounced.
Vice President Kamala Harris used a similar approach when campaigning for the presidency. On April 22, 2019, the New York Times noted Harris’ plan to “sign an executive order mandating background checks for customers of any firearms dealer who sells more than five guns a year.”
Politico explained that Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) believes he might be able pull sufficient Republican support by watering down the gun control measuring currently languishing in the Senate. The outlet mentioned Murphy is talking with Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) about “some ideas that would involve the expansion of background checks without getting all the way to universal.”
On April 20, 2021, Breitbart News pointed to a Politico report indicating Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was talking to Murphy about “common ground” on gun control.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.