Senator Warren Co-Sponsors Three Gun Safety Bills, Advocates for Common Sense Reforms
Legislation Would Close Background Check Loophole; Ban Bump Stocks; Prohibit Sale of High Capacity Magazines Used in Mass Shootings
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) this week cosponsored three bills to implement common sense public safety measures affecting the sale of guns, bump stocks, and high capacity gun magazines.
Senator Warren co-sponsored the introduction of the "No Check, No Sale" bill to close a loophole that allows gun sales to proceed if a background check is not completed after 72 hours, even if the gun buyer is not legally allowed to purchase a gun, the Automatic Gun Fire Prevention Act to prevent the sale of accessories that convert semi-automatic rifles into fully-automatic weapons, and the Keep America Safe Act to ban the sale and possession of high capacity magazines.
"Gun violence has become far too common in America. Thoughts and prayers just aren't enough. Congress has a moral responsibility to take common sense actions to stop this epidemic," Senator Warren said. "These bills are some of those common sense steps. Fully-automatic weapons have been illegal for over thirty years for good reason, and we must close the loophole that allows the modification of semi-automatic rifles into weapons that can harm hundreds in minutes. Large capacity magazines are meant for inflicting enormous damage -- it's time to take these weapons of war off of our streets. And we need to do more to fix our broken background check system, to keep guns away from felons and other dangerous people."
Currently, when a criminal background check indicates that a firearm purchaser may have a criminal record, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tries to determine whether the purchaser can legally buy a gun. If this process takes longer than 72 hours, gun dealers can complete the sale even though there is a heightened risk that the purchaser is legally disqualified from purchasing a gun. The Background Check Completion Act, led by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Murphy D-Conn.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and co-sponsored by 19 of their colleagues, would require a completed background check for every gun buyer who purchases a gun from a federally-licensed gun dealer.
Introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and co-sponsored by 23 others in addition to Senator Warren, the Automatic Gun Fire Prevention Act would ban the sale, transfer, importation, manufacture or possession of bump stocks, trigger cranks and similar accessories that accelerate a semi-automatic rifle's rate of fire. Under the National Firearms Act, the sale, manufacture and transfer of automatic weapons are illegal. However, bump stocks, slide fire devices and other similar accessories are able to be attached to semi-automatic weapons, allowing them to reach fully-automatic rates of fire between 400 and 800 rounds per minute.
The Keep Americans Safe Act, led by Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and co-sponsored by 17 additional senators, bans the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition and are designed for shooting en masse. In addition to Las Vegas, high-capacity magazines have been used in some of the country's most horrific mass shootings, including the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., San Bernadino, Calif., and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
###
Next Article Previous Article
