House Democrats passed legislation that adds a ten-day extension to instant firearm background checks on Thursday, marking the second piece of gun control legislation they have passed in as many days.
On February 25, Breitbart News reported that the legislation, H.R. 1112, adds a ten-business-day extension for background checks that do not return conclusive results immediately. Once that ten-business-day period is over, the would-be purchaser can petition to get his gun, and that process takes another ten business days.
The Democrats claim H.R. 1112 is needed to end the “Charleston Loophole,” referring to the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shooting, but such a loophole is nonexistent. That attacker did not get his gun because of a loophole, but because information was wrongly entered into a computer system at a county jail.
The New York Times reported, “Law enforcement authorities in South Carolina said on Monday that a jail clerk there had made an error when entering information into a computer system about a February drug arrest of the man who is charged in the killing of nine people in a historically black church in Charleston last month.”
Chris Cox, the executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), reacted to the passage of H.R. 1112, saying, “This legislation would not have prevented the Charleston murders, and even worse, the legislation is so poorly drafted it would put law-abiding citizens who need a firearm for self-defense at risk by trapping them in an endless loop of delays.” Cox continued, “The NRA will continue to fight for the constitutional right of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves and their families without apology.”
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. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.