Like Congress, the Colorado state legislature is considering a package of gun control legislation designed to broaden background checks to include private sales and limit the size of ammunition magazines.
New York state took steps Tuesday to bolster its background-check system as part of firearm-restrictions legislation that Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law.
WSJ: Systemic Gaps Hinder Background Checks for Gun Purchases
Gun-control advocates have helped highlight these flaws, but some also worry that focus on the system's holes will be used as an excuse to block legislation requiring universal use of the background check system.
WSJ: Systemic Gaps Hinder Background Checks for Gun Purchases
Colorado, a state with a strong frontier tradition of gun ownership, passed legislation last month that expanded background checks to apply to personal and online sales and limited magazine capacity to 15 bullets.
For example, they say criminals skirt background checks, so expanding the system would miss the main target of the legislation.
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In March, Colorado introduced new gun legislation to impose limits on the size of ammunition magazines and expand background checks for gun buyers.
But to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, we also need Congress to pass new legislation requiring background checks for all gun sales, with common-sense exceptions for cases like transfers between family members.
What the proportion is, is hard to say, but I think you break it down to issues of law enforcement, issues of -- and then law enforcement can mean not just gun legislation, but other issues of law enforcement, obviously, like background checks and the like.
The complex piece of legislation included an interim provision that directed state and local officials to conduct background checks for prospective handgun purchasers.
It's silly to conclude that because one poll found 90% support for "background checks, " that translates into a like level of support for this particular piece of legislation.
During our roundtable discussion with Governor Hickenlooper, who I know was in the midst of this passionate debate about the legislation here in Colorado, and some people said, well, background checks aren't going to stop everybody.
In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal -- like Dewhurst, a Republican -- on Friday proposed legislation to join 17 other states and make mental health records part of the screening criteria for federal background checks to buy firearms.
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