© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Background Checks Bill Gains Backers On And Off Capitol Hill

Newly made AR-15 rifles at Stag Arms in New Britain, Conn., last Wednesday.
Charles Krupa
/
AP
Newly made AR-15 rifles at Stag Arms in New Britain, Conn., last Wednesday.

The Senate was due on Tuesday to take up legislation embodying the bipartisan compromise reached by two senators, West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin and Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey.

The effort to extend background checks to weapons purchases at gun shows and online received a boost over the weekend when an important gun rights group, the , announced its support for the measure.

Robert Spitzer, one of the nation's top experts on the politics of gun control and a political science professor at SUNY Cortland, called it a "significant" endorsement.

"The [group] has been around since the 1970s, and I do not recall them ever endorsing any real gun control measure," said Spitzer, author of The Politics of Gun Control, in an email response to questions.

The Citizens Committee claims to be the nation's second-largest gun rights group.

Spitzer also noted support for the expanded background checks from the lobbying group Independent Firearm Owners Association. "Add to this the dogged personal lobbying of family of Sandy Hook victims, and the weight of the and , and that suggests some real momentum that may even carry this thing through the [Republican-controlled] House."

Spitzer said the Citizens Committee "has credibility with the gun rights community, which makes its endorsement more significant beyond its membership numbers. It compiles a lot of research and writing, and [is] a go-to site for the gun rights people."

The National Rifle Association, the nation's largest gun rights group, opposes the measure.

In the House on Monday, Republican Peter King of New York and Democrat Mike Thompson of California introduced a companion bill to the Senate measure.

Despite a sense of momentum, the fate of the legislation is far from certain, even in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat, acknowledged that Monday: "I hope there aren't going to be a few unreasonable extremists who are going to try to prevent an up or down vote on the legislation," Reid said on the Senate floor.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Frank James joined NPR News in April 2009 to launch the blog, "The Two-Way," with co-blogger Mark Memmott.
Related Content
  • As the Senate prepares to vote on gun legislation, there are more mixed signals on what will be the fate of a bipartisan plan concerning background checks of gun purchasers.
  • In a rare departure from tradition, Saturday's presidential address was delivered not by President Obama but by Francine Wheeler, whose son Ben, 6, died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Wheeler urged the Senate to pass gun control legislation it has scheduled for debate.
  • Congress voted to begin debate on a package of new gun control measures this week, passing a key procedural hurdle. But several proposals face a long road before reaching President Obama's desk. One proposal has garnered bipartisan support: additional measures targeting so-called "straw purchasers" and gun trafficking. Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon reports on why advocates say the new measures are necessary, and how one gun, purchased through a surrogate, ended up in the wrong hands.
  • Last December Governor Hickenlooper made a plea for more money and additional resources to strengthen mental health services in Colorado following the…