Should Congress close a loophole that allows gun dealers to complete a sale if a background check takes longer than three days?
Bill Summary
H.R. 1446, the Enhanced Background Checks Act, closes a provision that permits gun dealers to complete sales if the background check has not been completed after three days. The provision has come under scrutiny after Dylan Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine people at a black church in Charleston was able to obtain a gun.
Sponsor: Rep. James Clayburn (Democrat, South Carolina, District 6)
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Opponents say
• "The 3 day proceed to sale provision is a safety valve that ensures gun purchasers in the U.S. are not arbitrarily denied their Second Amendment Rights. Without the 3 day provision, the FBI has no incentive to complete checks in a timely manner … In 2015, Carol Bowne of Berlin, New Jersey was murdered by her ex-boyfriend after waiting more than forty days for a firearm permit. Eliminating the 3 day proceed to sale provision would expose law-abiding Americans to the same type of deadly delay that prevented Ms. Bowne from defending herself."
Source: The NRA
• "This bill increases the burden on small business firearm retailer owners and flips the burden of proof on its head. This would make it incumbent upon the law-abiding citizen to prove his or her innocence to the government to exercise their Second Amendment right to purchase a firearm instead of the government being responsible for proving an individual is prohibited. This could potentially deny a law-abiding citizen their rights for up to a month, while they are saddled with the burden of proving their innocence." Source: Larry Keane (Director of Government Affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation)
• "This bill increases the burden on small business firearm retailer owners and flips the burden of proof on its head. This would make it incumbent upon the law-abiding citizen to prove his or her innocence to the government to exercise their Second Amendment right to purchase a firearm instead of the government being responsible for proving an individual is prohibited. This could potentially deny a law-abiding citizen their rights for up to a month, while they are saddled with the burden of proving their innocence." Source: Larry Keane (Director of Government Affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation)
Proponents say
• "It has been more than two (now five) years since the racially motivated attack at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina took nine lives and injured three others. As we discovered after the tragedy, the assailant used a firearm that was purchased through a loophole in our background check system, and thousands of weapons slip through this loophole each year. Congress must act to close this loophole immediately."
Source: Rep. James Clyburn (Democrat, South Carolina, District 6)
• "The 'Charleston loophole' name for me means that you will remember the people that were killed in that church and not forget that white supremacy is at a level that we can't even imagine. It angers me that people can do something, not just for Black people, but for everybody, and they don't. We know gun violence kills more women than anything else. The wait might be an opportunity for some domestic abuser to cool down before he goes and kills a woman, or children." Source: Reverend Sharon Risher (Reverend Risher’s mother and two cousins were murdered by Roof)
• "The 'Charleston loophole' name for me means that you will remember the people that were killed in that church and not forget that white supremacy is at a level that we can't even imagine. It angers me that people can do something, not just for Black people, but for everybody, and they don't. We know gun violence kills more women than anything else. The wait might be an opportunity for some domestic abuser to cool down before he goes and kills a woman, or children." Source: Reverend Sharon Risher (Reverend Risher’s mother and two cousins were murdered by Roof)
- Clyburn Launches Petition To Force Vote On Closing The Charleston Loophole (Press Release)
- House Lawmakers Launch Fresh Efforts To Overhaul Nation's Gun Laws (NPR)
- "The Charleston loophole": Purchases by people barred from buying guns skyrocketed in 2020 (CBS News)
- Biden calls for Congress to pass stricter gun laws on the anniversary of the Parkland mass shooting (CNBC)
