More than a dozen GOP lawmakers Friday sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan urging him to bring to a vote a stalled measure that would reauthorize the National Criminal Instant Background Check System.
The call from 18 House members comes after the FBI admitted it had been tipped on troubling behavior by the suspected shooter in the Parkland, Florida attack on Feb. 14, but failed to follow up.
"Background checks are the first line of defense in law enforcement's efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, domestic abusers and those deemed dangerously mentally ill," Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., who spearheaded the effort, said in a statement.
"Congress should immediately take up and pass the bipartisan and bicameral Fix NICS Act to close the system's loopholes to strengthen our Nation's background check system and make our country safer from gun violence."
The letter argues the legislation would improve "sharing of mental health and criminal record information between state and local agencies and the federal background check database."
Although the Fix NICS Act was passed by the House in December, it was attached to a larger measure concerning concealed-carry, which has stalled in the Senate, the Washington Examiner reported.
Lance and the other lawmakers are requesting it be considered as a standalone measure instead.
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