On Tuesday, eight House Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats in favor of gun control.
The House passed H.R 8: the Bipartisan Background Checks Bill. The vote? 240 to a wimpier 190.
The legislation — which would thicken background checks for almost all gun sales — isn’t expected to pass muster with the Republican Senate.
In case you’re wondering which elected GOPers voted for the expansion of background checks, here they are — as compiled by The Daily Caller:
- Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who has served in Congress since 2002 and was easily re-elected in Florida’s 25th district during the 2018 midterms
- Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, who has represented Florida’s 16th district in Congress since 2007
- Florida Rep. Brian Mast, who is an advocate for gun control and has criticized gun rights groups such as the NRA
- Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who won a close race last November to represent Pennsylvania’s newly re-drawn first district, and has been a staunch supporter of gun control
- Texas Rep. Will Hurd, who won one of the closest races in the country during the 2018 midterms and has voted with the Democrats on critical issues such as health care and immigration
- New York Rep. Pete King, who has been in Congress for a quarter-century and has previously advocated for Congress to pass tighter gun control laws
- New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith also voted in support of increased background checks, a policy proposal he has previously championed
- Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, who represents a moderate district in Michigan and is widely known for his bipartisanship
Is a background checks bill really a bad idea? This one is, according to Ryan Cleckner at The Federalist. He lists 9 ways:
1. Gun Dealers Already Conduct Background Checks
2. In-State Commerce Is a State Issue
3. Demands For New Gun Control Are An Admission That Gun Control Doesn’t Work
4. There Is (Already) No ‘Gun-Show Loophole’
5. There Is (Already) No ‘Online Gun Sales Loophole’
6. Universal Background Checks Won’t Stop Criminals From Getting Guns
7. Background Checks Won’t Stop Mass Shootings
(Here, he lists examples of mass shootings that weren’t hampered by background checks instituted in 1994.)
8. Universal Background Checks Are Too Burdensome
9. This Creates a De Facto Federal Gun Registry
What do you think of the background checks bill?
Ultimately, modern society’s problem isn’t that bad people gain access to guns. It’s that there are bad people to start with — people who are willing to take the lives of innocent people. If we look at American crime compared to eighty years ago, we see a difference that clearly wasn’t caused by lack of access to firearms.
We need something else. Something, perhaps, like this.
-Alex
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