By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- A divided Senate Judiciary Committee approved a Democratic bill
Tuesday expanding required federal background checks to nearly all gun
purchases, giving President Barack Obama an early victory on curbing gun
violence in a fight that still faces difficult odds.
The vote was 10-8, with all Democrats supporting the measure and every Republican opposing it.
As
expected, the panel delayed voting on a plan by Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., to ban assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines.
The committee was expected to approve that measure Thursday. Feinstein
was chairing a separate intelligence hearing.
The
background check measure would expand the requirement to firearms sales
between private individuals, such as those that occur at gun shows.
Currently, the checks are required only for sales by federally licensed
firearms dealers.
"This isn't going to be a perfect bill. But it will sure reduce crimes," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the bill's sponsor.
Schumer
said he hopes he can strike a compromise on the measure with
Republicans, which would enhance its chances of passing in the full
Senate. The chamber is expected to consider gun legislation next month,
and GOP lawmakers have shown little enthusiasm for expanding the
requirement to private firearms transactions.
Sen.
Charles Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Judiciary panel, said
he believes the measure will ultimately lead to a federal registry of
gun owners - which is illegal. He also said that requiring additional
law-abiding citizens to face background checks would have limited impact
on public safety.
"Mass shootings would
continue to occur despite universal background checks," Grassley said.
"Criminals will continue to steal guns."
The
committee also approved a measure by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.,
providing $40 million a year for school safety programs. The vote was
14-4, with four Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the bill
The background check system is designed to prevent criminals, people with severe mental problems and others from getting guns.
Tuesday's
meeting came five days after the panel approved Congress' first gun
control measure since December's horrific shooting at a Newtown, Conn.,
elementary school that left 26 students and educators dead.
The
initial bill, brought forward by the Judiciary Committee's chairman,
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and others, establishes long prison terms for
illegal gun traffickers and straw purchasers, people who buy a firearm
for criminals or others forbidden to buy one.
Schumer's
background check bill would exempt only a narrow range of transactions
from the checks, such as transactions between immediate family members
or weapons loaned temporarily during sporting events.
It
would also renew the requirement that states and federal agencies
report records on felons, people with major mental health problems, drug
abusers and others to the federal background check system - something
that many states and agencies do poorly.
Schumer
had hoped to win GOP support for his measure, and he spent weeks
bargaining with conservative Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who carries an A
rating from the National Rifle Association. Those talks foundered.
Coburn's
backing could have helped Schumer win support from other Republicans
and moderate Democrats from states with large numbers of GOP voters -
potentially crucial because the background check measure is likely to
need 60 votes in the 100-member Senate. There are 55 Democrats,
including two independents who usually side with them.
To
pressure lawmakers, a dozen clergy members from Newtown collected 4,000
signatures of religious leaders from around the country on a letter
asking them to support expanded background checks, an assault weapons
ban and other restrictions. The letter was published Monday as an ad in
the Des Moines (Iowa) Register and was addressed to Grassley. The group
planned to run the ad elsewhere as well.
The
letter said that after gun violence in Newtown and other places, "To
refuse to take the steps we know would reduce harm is a violation of
religious values so severe that we are compelled to speak out."
The
NRA, which opposes the background check expansion, is encouraging its
members to contact Congress, association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam
said.
Leaders of the GOP-run House have said they will wait to act until the Senate passes legislation.
Democrats
say background checks help keep criminals and others from getting
weapons, and say keeping records of private sales is the only way to
ensure that those checks are actually conducted. Currently, the
government must destroy records of checks it conducts within a day, but
gun dealers must maintain paper records of the transactions for 20
years.
Republicans oppose recordkeeping as a
step toward a federal registry. They also argue that current laws need
to be enforced better without imposing record-keeping requirements on
additional gun buyers.
Since the federal
background check system began in 1998, the government has received more
than 118 million gun applications and turned down 2.1 million, or 1.8
percent, according to the Justice Department. The figures are through
2010.
Supporters of stronger curbs say those
statistics show the large number of dangerous people denied firearms.
They say extending the requirement to more sales would make it even more
effective.
Opponents say broadening background checks would encourage more people to seek weapons illegally.
A
2004 survey of state prisoners involved in crimes that included guns
showed that around 4 in 10 got their firearms from friends or family and
nearly that many got them from unregulated street dealers. Only around 1
in 9 got them from licensed dealers.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press modified.
