Background Check Compromise: What’s in the Fine Print?

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=pile+of+guns&search_group=#id=125428757&src=BjIUavXrqxG4oUtog70D9A-1-3">Kellis</a>/Shutterstock

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The compromise amendment on expanded background checks that Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) announced Wednesday morning has yet to be released to the public. But the senators released a fact sheet on Wednesday afternoon that begins to clear up some answers sought by gun control groups and uncommitted senators. (Read it in full below, via the Huffington Post.)

Titled “The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act,” the amendment expands the existing background check system to cover sales at gun shows and on the internet, “encourages” states to put all their available records into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and establishes a National Commission on Mass Violence “to study in-depth all the causes of mass violence in our country.”

Here’s a rundown of additional key components of the Manchin-Toomey amendment as spelled out in the fact sheet:

  • People who buy guns from non-licensed sellers or gun owners in the parking lot at gun shows would have to undergo background checks from licensed dealers.
  • Online gun sales within one state would require the same background checks from licensed dealers that are currently required for interstate online gun sales.
  • Licensed dealers would keep records of background checks they conduct, as they have been doing since 1968, for commercial sales that require checks under existing law. It would not allow the federal government to keep records.
  • The federal government would be banned from establishing a registry of gun owners, even though that has already been the law since 1986. People who might misuse records for the purpose of creating a registry would face felony charges and up to 15 years in prison.
  • Temporary transfers and transfers between family, friends, and neighbors wouldn’t require background checks.
  • Licensed dealers would be able to sell handguns across state lines, instead of only rifles and shotguns.
  • Active military members would be able to purchase guns not only at duty stations but also from in-state dealers.
  • Licensed dealers at gun shows would be able to sell guns to dealers attending the show from other states.
  • Concealed carry permits issued within the past five years could be used in lieu of background checks since the permits themselves require checks.
  • States would be encouraged to submit records of prohibited buyers to the NICS background check database, providing grants to help states that comply and reducing funding for those that don’t.
  • If an NICS background check was inconclusive after 48 hours, a pending sale at a gun show would be allowed to take place. (In four years, the time would be reduced to 24 hours—the idea being that the database would have improved significatly by then.)

And, the fact sheet adds, the amendment would “not, in any way, shape, or form infringe upon anyone’s Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms.”

On Wednesday afternoon, several Republican senators said they had yet to digest the amendment’s details. One of them was Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.), whom Manchin and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had aimed to work with prior to working with Toomey—until gun-rights activists apparently got to Coburn.

Late Wednesday, Coburn released a statement calling the compromise the “wrong approach” that would “impose new taxes and unreasonable burdens on law-abiding citizens” and prioritize “collecting records over protecting citizens.” Still, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has supported expanded background checks in the past but remains on the fence now, said he believed the legislation would survive filibuster threats and get a vote.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate