Rep. Mike Thompson revives universal gun background checks bill

Rep. Mike Thompson on Tuesday renewed his legislation requiring universal background checks for all firearms purchases, the foremost part of the St. Helena Democrat’s long campaign to curb gun violence started in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012.

Approval in the Democratic-controlled House is certain, Thompson said, while the “big hurdle” is in the Senate where a companion measure will be considered by an equal number of Democrats and Republicans.

“We all recognize that’s the tough one,” he said.

Thompson’s gun background checks bill was approved in the House on a 240-190 vote in 2019 but was bottled up in the Senate by Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and former Senate majority leader.

All 50 Democratic votes plus 10 from Republicans would be needed for Senate approval, unless the chamber’s filibuster rule is waived and reduces the number to 50, a prospect considered unlikely.

Thompson said he expects support from conservative Senate Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and moderate Democrat Jon Tester of Montana.

President Joe Biden would sign the bill if it reaches his desk, Thompson said, noting that he worked closely with Biden on gun violence prevention during his tenure as vice president.

A vote on the House floor is set for next week, Thompson said.

“The last two years have been a turning point in our long-standing fight to prevent gun violence and we take another leap forward in helping to save lives,” he said in a news release.

A Vietnam War combat veteran, hunter and gun owner, Thompson has spearheaded House Democrats’ efforts to combat gun violence for eight years, prompted by the deaths of 20 children and eight adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 has seven co-sponsors, including three Republicans, and Thompson is seeking more.

The 2019 bill had 232 co-sponsors, including five Republicans.

“Background checks are simple, easy and they save lives,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, sponsor of the Senate measure, said in the news release. “This is the year to get this bill passed into law.”

California already employs a system of checks for criminal records and mental health incapacity. Thompson’s bill would mandate a similar system in places where it doesn’t exist.

Federal law requires background checks only for gun sales by licensed dealers, leaving a “dangerous and deadly loophole” exempting private sellers, according to the Giffords Law Center, led by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011.

Twenty-two states, including California, and the District of Columbia have extended background checks to at least some private sales, the center’s website said.

About 80% of firearms acquired for criminal purposes are obtained through transfers from unlicensed dealers, the center said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.