A bill that would have given the FBI longer to investigate the man buying the gun he would use to kill nine at Mother Emanuel has passed the U.S. House with the help of Charleston Congressmen Jim Clyburn and Joe Cunningham. A separate bill (H.R. 8) passed on Wednesday mandates background checks for most gun sales, including at gun shows.
But President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the bill if it’s also passed in the Senate, calling the enhanced background check measures “burdensome” to gun buyers.
Every single South Carolina Republican member of Congress voted against both bills, even casting votes for a parliamentary maneuver to spike Clyburn’s bill on Thursday.
A handful of Republicans crossed the aisle to support the measure to close the Charleston Loophole, including Rep. Peter King of New York.
Democrats hold a majority in the U.S. House, where Clyburn serves as majority whip, but Republicans remain in control of the U.S. Senate, where the bill heads next.
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The Clyburn-Cunningham bill (H.R. 1112) extends the minimum time allowed for federal investigators to complete a background check from three to 10 days.
The two bills are the first legislative efforts on the federal level since the Emanuel massacre nearly four years ago to fill the gap that allowed Dylann Roof to buy a gun without a complete background check, which would have flagged his purchase. Shortly after the lapse came to light, the FBI changed how it maintains information on potential gun buyers to make gun checks more efficient and accurate. [content-1] Similar efforts by S.C. Sen. Marlon Kimpson in the South Carolina Statehouse have stalled after being been met with tepid support. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, also a state senator, was among those killed at Emanuel on June 17 2015.
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Clementa’s widow Jennifer Pinckney, who has advocated for gun safety since her husband was killed, was on Capitol Hill with their daughters on Thursday morning.
“It is long past time we closed the Charleston loophole and gave law enforcement the time necessary to make sure dangerous people don’t end up with deadly weapons they are prohibited from obtaining,” Cunningham said in a statement on Thursday.
Gun safety reforms in the S.C. Statehouse this year would shorten the reporting window for state administrators to notify SLED of some offenses and judgments, including restraining orders, domestic violence convictions. Shorter reporting times would provide information to state and federal authorities responsible for gun checks and enforcement faster.
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