Editorial: U.S. supports checks on guns
America, it is said, is deeply divided when it comes to gun control.
In fact, it’s not, in one very important sense. America is uncommonly unified in its support for certain basic safeguards on gun ownership. Now Congress has a new chance to pass these popular provisions.
The seeming disconnect hinges on how one asks the question. The respected Pew Research Center last week announced the results of its poll of 2,002 adults about gun control. Respondents were sharply divided when asked whether it is more important to control gun ownership or to protect the right to own guns: 50 percent said more important to control guns, 47 percent said more important to protect gun ownership.
Get past that generic question to specific proposals, though, and Americans’ answers change.
A solid 57 percent of Americans support a ban on assault-style weapons. Seven out of 10 support the creation of a federal database to track all gun sales. Nearly 80 percent support laws to restrict mentally ill people from obtaining guns. And a resounding 85 percent support expanding background checks to include gun shows and private sales. A strong majority of Democrats and Republicans alike support most of those measures.
Those new findings should give members of Congress the guts to act. They have two new options before them, including one from the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
Cornyn this month proposed a bill that encourages states to better report data about mentally ill individuals to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. States that send more than 90 percent of their relevant records to NICS could receive a 5 percent bump in federal grants. States that do poorly could see their grants shrink. The NRA supports the bill, as do law-enforcement groups and advocates for mentally ill people.
States currently are not required to report such information, and their records on doing so vary wildly.
Cornyn’s bill, though, allows a person discharged from psychiatric treatment to purchase a gun right away, rather than getting permission from a judge, as is required now. And it would make it easier for veterans declared incompetent by the VA to buy guns.
Chuck Schumer, a top Senate Democrat, offered a better bill last month that not only closes loopholes in the federal database but also fully funds mental health and substance abuse programs. He would also have the Justice Department survey all states for best practices governing involuntary commitment of mentally ill people.
The most effective and common-sense reform is requiring background checks at gun shows and for private sales. That couldn’t pass even after Newtown. But with public opinion on their side and bills from Cornyn and Schumer before them, perhaps members of Congress will finally act.
This story was originally published August 16, 2015 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Editorial: U.S. supports checks on guns."