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WASHINGTON—Congressman Paul D. Tonko voted today to pass H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and H.R. 1446, the Enhanced Background Checks Act, two commonsense gun violence prevention measures that, taken together, would require background checks on all gun sales in the United States and close the Charleston Loophole that allowed the hate crime at Mother Emanuel AME Church.

“Our nation’s epidemic of gun violence continues to steal American lives every single day, a crisis that has only deepened during the pandemic.” Congressman Tonko said. “We are reminded of this after each mass shooting, and too easily forget that an average of 100 Americans die each day from gun violence. Time and again, Congress has ignored the millions of Americans calling for the very same reforms we are advancing today. I’m proud to cast my vote for these two landmark, bipartisan gun violence prevention bills. On behalf of my constituents and every gun violence victim, survivor and family, I will continue to push for strong, effective action to build on our progress today and help end the epidemic of gun violence in our communities. Enough is enough.”

• H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act requires a background check for every gun sale or transfer to ensure that individuals already prohibited from gun possession under federal law, such as felons, domestic abusers and those who are considered a danger to themselves or others, are not able to obtain firearms.
• H.R. 1446, the Enhanced Background Checks Act would end the Charleston Loophole that enabled the horrific hate crime at Mother Emanuel AME Church that killed nine innocent people.  The Charleston Loophole currently allows the sale of a firearm to proceed if a background check is not completed within three business days.

These measures have overwhelming, bipartisan support among the majority of Americans. Polls consistently show more than 90 percent of Americans support universal background checks—including 85 percent of gun-owning households, along with dozens of leading law enforcement, veterans, local government, public health and other groups such as Major Cities Chiefs Association, VoteVets, Police Executive Research Forum, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Hispanic American Police Commanders Association and the American Medical Association.

This bipartisan support is compounded by strong evidence that background checks work. Since 1994, when background checks were first implemented, they have stopped more than 3 million dangerous people from getting guns. In 2017 alone, due to background checks, over 170,000 sales were denied—39 percent of them to convicted felons. Every day where background checks are used they stop more than 160 felons and some 50 domestic abusers from buying a gun.

Yet, due to existing loopholes that allow unlicensed gun sellers to sell guns without a background check,  the background check system is not working as well as it should, with up to 80 percent of firearms used for criminal purposes currently sold without background checks. The Charleston Loophole alone allows the sale of hundreds of thousands of guns to potentially dangerous individuals each year. Cases of the Charleston Loophole exception are particularly common in domestic violence cases.

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