Congress has reintroduced the Bipartisan Background Checks Act (formerly known as H.R.8, which passed the House (227-203) during the last Congress).

“Our communities will be safer with the expansion of background checks for firearm sales under this bill,” said Rep. Fitzpatrick (R-PA). “Background checks are a simple preventive measure that are proven to help our law enforcement keep guns out of the hands of criminals. This bipartisan legislation will prevent felons, domestic abusers, and dangerously mentally ill citizens from obtaining a firearm, while protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. I’m proud to support these common-sense reforms.”

This legislation aims to extend existing background check requirements to almost all gun sales and most gun transfers, including internet sales, at gun shows and person-to-person transactions, with certain exemptions for immediate family.

Supporters of the bill say the large increase in gun violence over the past decade warrants federal action to help prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands. Even most gun owners support the nation's background check requirement, they say, yet the background check system is too easily skirted; there is no reason individuals who are barred from buying a firearm at a gun store should be able to turn around and purchase the same weapon over the internet or at a gun show. They say the federal background check system is fast and accurate and is not onerous on gun purchasers, and would be effective at stopping those who are legally barred from owning a weapon while still protecting Americans' Second Amendment rights. And in the small number of cases in which FBI examiners need additional time to complete a background check, they say providing that additional time can help ensure felons and others who shouldn't own guns don't fall through the cracks, which will simply save lives. They say that bottom line, the bills represent common sense ways to help reduce the gun-related carnage that afflicts too many Americans.

Opponents of the bill say that proponents once again are trying to exploit gun tragedies for political purposes in the rush to show they are "doing something." They say most criminals obtain weapons through theft and straw purchases, which are already illegal, and not from gun shows, and argue there is little to no connection between mass shootings and the legislative fixes being proposed. The bills will only act to infringe on the rights of law-abiding Americans who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights, they say, placing an undue burden on private buyers and sellers by forcing them to find a licensed gun dealer willing to process the sale and conduct the background check through the federal system, which will also increase the cost of gun ownership. And the current 3-day limit on the time the FBI has to complete a background check is more than sufficient, they say, noting that in the case of Dylann Roof the FBI simply failed to continue its background investigation which would have revealed he was prohibited from buying the gun. As with many shooting tragedies, it was simply a matter of the authorities failing to enforce existing laws.