Gun control groups say two Democratic senators are watering down a bill to expand background checks on gun buyers.
Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., proposed, before the Easter recess, that transactions made between friends should require background checks, but not record-keeping, The Hill reports.
Gun control advocates don’t like the proposal.
“I don’t understand why record-keeping is a problem here, and I don’t understand how that proposal particularly helps us,” Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, told The Hill.
The plan falls short of what gun legislation should do, he said, because “criminals get their guns from their friends.”
“How do you know someone you just met doesn’t have domestic-violence restraining order against them?” said Brian Malte, director of mobilization at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence “How much do you know about an acquaintance, and how do you define what an acquaintance is?”
Ninety percent of registered voters support expanded background checks for gun purchaes, a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed.
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